November 1941
Young ladies hastily dashed for seats in the Department of Physics auditorium at Wits University. They excitedly waited for a big shot from the Army to address them, about what they had no idea. With the war going on in Europe and now just recently all the able men had been called up for active duty, they were more than simply intrigued as to why such a big shot wanted to speak with them.
Peggy Hatcher, Dorothy Palmer, Audrey Meeks and Maisy Helton chatted about what they surmised it was. Four young ladies, all twenty years old in their final year at University studying Physics; what could the Army possibly want with them.
The Dean of the University walked in, and immediately the room hushed into a mumble. “Ladies, good morning.” The ladies mumbled “Good morning” back to the Dean before he continued, “We have a special guest speaker here today from the National Defense Force,” he turned to the woman on his left “welcome Lieutenant Grobbelaar.” He motioned to her with his hand to take the podium while all the students handed her applause; she lingered a few moments clearly enjoying the accolade before clearing her throat to speak.
Her voice was sweet in contrast to her defined uniformed exterior. “Thank you, Dean Peters, good morning ladies.” She waited until the mumbled “Good morning” reply faded and continued, “Our country is at war, the last few weeks have seen many able men leaving their homes and country and joining the forces to fight the enemy with the Allies. I am from a very special unit in the Defense Force, one that is top secret.” A murmur channeled through the auditorium as the mention of “top secret” peaked all the ladies’ attention. “Since ” Lt. Grobbelaar raised her voice to settle the audience “our men are no longer available I have been authorized to recruit and enlist young ladies with a University degree like yourselves to join the Defense Force and to serve your country. You will be sworn to secrecy and at no point or time will you be able or permitted to discuss what it is that you do to anyone outside of your unit.” Again the ladies could not contain their curiosity, and the murmur floated about the room. Lt. Grobbelaar anticipated this type of reaction, so she waited for the students to re-focus on her; she held up a few pages. “I have here forms for you to fill in if you are interested, we will then take private interviews before we make our final decisions. I am sorry that I cannot give you any further information regarding your enlistment, but you will not be expected to carry so much as a gun.”
Maisy went as white as a sheet. “Carry a gun?” She squeaked out rather loudly “Oh goodness I could not carry a gun, I just could not. No!”
All the students turned to look at her, some giggled and snickered. “Young lady, I said you would not be required to carry guns, and I am quite sure that you will never be in any danger whatsoever.” Lt. Grobbelaar stretched her neck to look at Maisy and to make sure she had understood what she’d said.
“Sorry Ma’am, Lieutenant, sorry I only heard guns.” Maisy shriveled in her seat highly embarrassed, and her three friends tried very hard to stifle their laughter.
Lt. Grobbelaar exited the auditorium, and immediately the young students exploded, questioning, confirming or conferring with one another as to whether they were going to apply for this top secret post in the Defense Force. Dean Peters gave up trying to speak to the ladies and left the room.
“What was all that about the gun Maisy?” Dorothy burst out laughing again.
“Oh, golly I got such a scare when I heard the word gun. You know I have had such a protected life, all I know is my home and this University. Just the thought of all that cloak and dagger stuff sent me into a tizzy.” Maisy eyes welled up with tears.
“Oh Maisy as if they will give us guns, what next?” Peggy put her arm around Maisy and comforted her trying very hard not to laugh. It was only when Maisy, realizing how silly it all sounded, started to laugh at herself. That brought on another round of laughter from the four friends.
“Let’s send our forms in,” Maisy said finally sounding eager.
“Yes let’s, before Maisy changes her mind.” Audrey grabbed their completed forms and hurried to hand them in at the Dean’s office.
“What if we don’t all get accepted? We’ve been such good friends since we met here at University I’d hate for that to end?” Dorothy suddenly sounded downcast.
“No, they need us ladies, that Lieutenant said so, so they will surely take us all,” Audrey confidently said.
“I sure hope so; it sounds so thrilling,” Dorothy answered.
The four young students waited impatiently for their interview throughout the day. Finally, Peggy was called for her interview, the first of the four ladies.
Peggy knocked nervously on the door of the Dean’s office and entered when a voice gave the order for her to do so. She sat on the chair facing Dean Peter’s desk, Lt. Grobbelaar occupied the chair holding Peggy’s application.
“Miss Hatcher, thank you for your application.” She remained silent as she read something that seemed to interest her.
Peggy observed her appearance, she had her beret off and sported neat blonde shoulder length hair perfectly kept in place by many bobby pins. Her eyes were dark brown, and she had softness in her eyes, the shiny buttons and stripes on her uniform were far fiercer than her personality, or so Peggy hoped.
“Right, Miss Hatcher, I cannot give you any information regarding the special unit, but with your qualifications, I can tell you that you will make the cut, and we can use your services. Once you have achieved your degree, you will attend a six-week course, three weeks here at Wits and the rest in Cape Town. I see you are from the Cape so you should be used to traveling. You will have to sign an oath of secrecy as I mentioned earlier. Other than that there is not much else I can tell you for the moment; all will get revealed if and when you begin your training. But I can promise you there will be no violence, no spies, no flying around the world or even visiting an enemy line. In fact, I doubt that after your basic training you will ever step onto another Army base again.” She stopped talking so Peggy could absorb what she had said.
“What do you think, you ready for a secret challenge?” Lt. Grobbelaar asked Peggy after a few seconds.
“Yes, yes by golly I think I am,” Peggy replied enthusiastically.
“Excellent Miss Hatcher welcome to the Defense Force.” Lt. Grobbelaar stood and shook Peggy’s hand before Dean Peters lead her to the door of the office.
Peggy, Dorothy, and Maisy sat on their beds in the dormitory waiting for Audrey’s return; they had all been accepted, and now they waited to hear whether they would go together or would their precious circle of friends be divided forever. The door burst open. “Oh, hooray! We are all going to the Army.” Audrey screeched as she entered.
The four friends hugged and jumped and kissed each other in jubilation. All the other ladies in the dormitory joined in their celebrations since they had all decided to accept the invitation to the training camp.
What an exciting future lay ahead of them.