Oldest servicewoman reflects on ‘sheer joy’ of VE Day

As the country prepares to celebrate VE Day, the nation’s oldest servicewoman has shared her memories.

Joan Harrison, born in Portsmouth but now living in Cornwall, joined the women’s regiment the Auxiliary Territorial Service when war broke out.

The now 107-year-old then trained to become an ambulance driver, a role she described as “the best time of her life”.

Now living at a care home, she is frail and nearly blind and deaf – yet she retains a remarkably sharp mind and continues to follow current affairs, according to the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association.

Eighty years ago, “Brownie”, as she was known, was serving as an ambulance driver and was on duty when victory in Europe was declared.

“I was sitting quietly in the driver’s seat at around six o’clock in the evening and everything was still,” she recalled.

“Then, all of a sudden, he came running down the concrete path to the ambulance and said, ‘Brownie, the war’s over!’

“I said, ‘You’re kidding?’ and he said, ‘No, the war’s over’.

“I jumped out – I don’t think I even locked it, which was a crime, and ran with him into the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes where everyone was gathering.”

She said the celebrations “got a bit boisterous” as they got swept up in the emotion.

“Hats were flying in the air, it was all men,” she said.

“It got a bit boisterous, and some officers came down and called order.

“The men calmed down, saying, ‘You’re still in the army, you know, get to your beds’

“But they couldn’t do much about the sheer joy of the moment.”