Britain was at war and at the age of 22, she had answered her country's call to defend it. Private Bernadette Bell, from Moston, Manchester, was serving with the Army's Auxiliary Territorial Service.
On the morning of May 11th 1943, she and other newly recruited members of the 103rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade were in their billet on North Drive in Great Yarmouth. But, emerging through mists over the sea were 15 to 20 Focke-Wulf 190 Nazi planes.
The pilots began dropping their deadly cargo of bombs and, due to the hazy weather conditions, men of the Royal Observer Corps on Gorleston Cliffs only had 30 seconds to warn their HQ of an imminent strike. The bombs hit the Norfolk town before the air raid siren could be sounded.
The attack claimed the lives of 26 young women - aged between 18 and 32 - including Bernadette, who had joined the ATS only a few months earlier.
In total, the raid claimed the lives of a total of 49 service personnel and civilians. Only one ATS girl survived, Doreen Chappell, 18, from Gloucestershire, was pulled from the rubble with severe injuries. She died in Wales in 1989.
Most of the ATS victims were in their early twenties and it was the biggest single loss of female life in the British Army. The Women's Royal Army Corps Association (WRAC) - which is the only charity to support women who served - has led the campaign to fully honour the women who died that day, many of whom are missing from official war memorials.
In honour of their sacrifice, many of the home towns of those who died staged commemorative services to mark the 80th anniversary of the tragedy. At St Joseph's RC Cemetery in Moston, a service was held for Bernadette next to her grave.
It was attended by parishioners from St Dunstan's RC Church, which was her family's church, and a military contingent from 127 Divisional Support Company, 101 Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, based in Clifton, Salford. Dawn Hawker, North West Area Co-ordinator, laid a wreath on behalf of the WRAC.
The Manchester WRAC Branch Standard Bearer, Wendy Summerell-Wheeldon attended alongside Manchester Branch Chair Pip Flegel, and Kath Kirtley from the Oldham Branch.
Bernadette is buried with her mother and father, Albert and Margaret Hurley. Bernadette was the first person in the grave.
Services for the 26 also took place in Norfolk, London, Lincolnshire, Stockton-on-Tees; Sheffield, BIngley, Glasgow, Northampton, Derbyshire, Northumberland, Doncaster, Staffordshire, Edinburgh and Ross and Cromarty.
.The work of the ATS was vital to the success of the war. Communications were vital and teleprinter devices received messages which were interpreted and sent on. Some were in code, which had to go through the cipher office before they could be issued.
They worked in shifts, every day, including weekends. By the end of the Second World War some 15,000 women were working as signallers.
Paula Rogers, CEO of WRAC, said: "We must remember the sacrifice made by these women, killed while serving their country. The WRAC Association charity continues to work in honour of our servicewomen, alive and deceased, ensuring they are not forgotten."
Poignantly on March 18th 1943, Private Doris Travers, who died in the Great Yarmouth attack, had written to her family: "I am 21 today....it is not a very safe area, we are on the coast: nevermind.
"We must put the bad with the good. My nerves are getting a bit shaky. I should like to tell you a lot, but I can't. I will be coming home in six weeks' time."
87-year-old Eric A Beckett witnessed the Great Yarmouth bombing aged 8 years old:“Coming towards us was what looked like a torpedo, it was almost touching the sea. At that moment, we heard explosions further south… I peered over to see a building collapsing across the North Drive with lots of dust coming from it.
"Then all went quiet, except for explosions around the town. Outside was a lady covered from head to toe in soot - it was our mother looking for us. It wasn’t until a day or so later that we realised that the house we saw collapsing across the North Drive was the same house where we had played games with the ATS girls.
"That so many had died shocked us - those ATS girls, who gave us so much joy, have always had a special place in my heart.”
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