It had not occurred to either sister that they might have problems finding suitable work on arriving in England and as they began to receive rejection after rejection they started to become despondent. Surely there must be something suitable for two intelligent girls who were fluent in English and French?
Jacqueline applied to the Women’s Royal Naval Services – the WRNS – whose advertising slogan at that time was ‘Join the Wrens and free a man for the fleet’ and was called for an interview. She set off with high hopes, but these were dashed when she was told that they needed drivers. Her disappointment was compounded when she was rejected for the post of driver after admitting that she had never driven in the blackout. Didi fared no better. She almost obtained a position as a barrage-balloon operator but was deemed unsuitable for the role. The sisters were beginning to think that they had wasted their time and effort in coming to England. In desperation, they contacted the Ministry of Labour, stressing their language abilities.
Life in England wasn’t all a disappointment. Although Jacqueline and Didi stuck closely together there were times when they went their own ways and met new people. Soon after arriving in London Jacqueline met a young army cadet called Jimmie and they went out together a few times before he was posted. He extracted a promise from her to write to him and said that he would like to see her again when he came back to London on leave. He even told her that he had seen a brooch that he wanted to buy for her.1 It was flattering, as he was obviously quite keen on her, but soon all thoughts of the new friendship were forgotten when Jacqueline received a letter, sent to Mrs Plunkett’s address in Cheshunt, from a Captain Jepson at the War Office. Dated 5 June 1942, it said:
Dear Miss Nearne,
Your name has been passed to me as that of someone possessing qualifications which may be of value in a phase of the war effort. If you are available for interview I would be glad to see you at the above address at 3.30 p.m. on Thursday 25th June, 1942.
I would be glad if you would let me know whether you can come or not.
Yours truly,
Selwyn Jepson
Captain.
The address that Captain Jepson gave was Room 055a, War Office, SW1. Jacqueline wrote back immediately, saying that she would be pleased to meet him on 25 June. She told Didi about it but asked her not to say anything to anyone else, as the letter was vague enough either to be something very important or to mean nothing at all; she was also beginning to feel embarrassed about her difficulties in obtaining employment. Jacqueline was eager to know what this ‘phase of the war effort’ meant, but she had nearly three weeks to wait until the appointed date and the time passed slowly. Didi was also impatient to receive her own letter inviting her for an interview, which she was convinced would soon arrive. It didn’t and, as the time got closer for Jacqueline’s interview, Didi kept reminding her to ask why she hadn’t been invited too. Jacqueline had to promise her several times that she would make a point of asking before her sister was satisfied.
Thursday, 25 June arrived and Jacqueline, dressed in a smart but understated outfit, left Stamford Hill to travel to the War Office. There she was met by Selwyn Jepson himself and ushered into a small room. Jepson was a quietly spoken man, nothing like how Jacqueline had imagined a military officer would be, and the room, apart from two hard chairs and a small table, was empty. There were no personal touches, no books or manuals, no charts or maps, no telephone or framed photo on a desk. Jacqueline was confused by the surroundings and by now rather worried about the interview, but when Jepson began to speak to her, asking her questions about her previous employment, her family background and her reasons for coming to England, his calm manner put her at her ease. She found herself telling him about her family and what had happened to them after the fall of France, how her brother was already in England in the Royal Air Force and how she desperately wanted to do something that would make a difference in winning the war.
Jepson considered everything she had said and then asked her how she would feel about going back to France. She immediately wondered if it would be as a spy and asked him if that was what he meant. He told her that it would not exactly be as a spy but that it would be in an undercover role and that there were risks involved. He explained that if she were selected – and at that stage this was by no means certain – she would be enrolled in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), which would give her a cover story for her friends and family, as the work he was suggesting was so secret that she mustn’t tell anyone at all what they had discussed. He advised her to go home and think hard about what he had said, and told her that he would write to her again to let her know whether or not he thought she would be suitable.
With the interview at an end Jacqueline suddenly remembered her promise to Didi, and told Jepson that she had a younger sister who had come to England with her and who was also keen to find useful war work. He thanked her for the information and for attending the interview, and repeated that he would be in touch very soon. Shaking her by the hand, he pointed her towards the exit and was gone.
Jacqueline emerged from the War Office feeling dazed and confused. She was relieved that there was a possibility of employment for her but she hadn’t dreamt that it would be anything like this. Although she had been keen to use her French language skills, she thought the role might possibly have been as an interpreter or a translator. She hadn’t considered going back to France as a secret agent and, after all the problems that she and Didi had had getting out of France, felt that it was ironic that if all went well she would soon be back where she had started.
In the short time that it had taken to attend the interview her entire world had turned upside down. She was elated yet scared, and she couldn’t wait to get home so that she could tell Didi what had happened. But as she walked along the road she suddenly realized that she couldn’t tell Didi, as she had been told that she mustn’t tell anyone. Her mind turned to ways of concealing what she now knew about the job. She knew that, try as she might, it would be almost impossible to fool her sister; they were so close that she felt Didi would know immediately if she lied to her. She didn’t want to lie but neither did she want to disclose what she had been told. She also realized with an uncomfortable jolt that if Didi discovered what the job really was, she too would want to return to France; and, while she was quite prepared to be put in such a perilous position herself, she was horrified by the thought of her young, unworldly sister being subjected to the same danger. Her dilemma occupied her thoughts throughout her journey home.
When she reached Stamford Hill an anxious Didi was waiting for her. Wanting to know everything that had happened, she began firing questions at her sister. Who had interviewed her? What sort of a job was it? Had she been successful? Her final question was the one that Jacqueline had been dreading: was there a possibility that there might be another vacancy that she could fill?
Taking a deep breath, Jacqueline told Didi that she had been interviewed by the man who had written the letter to her, Captain Selwyn Jepson, and that the job was as a driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. She said that she would soon hear if her interview had been successful but she thought it had. Jacqueline assured Didi that she had told Jepson about her and he had said that he would contact her if he felt there was also a suitable position for her with the FANY.
Didi was puzzled and slightly disappointed. She was curious to know why Jacqueline had not, it seemed, emphasized her desire to use her language skills. Surely her ability to speak, read and write fluent French could have been used to better advantage than by merely becoming a driver. Knowing her sister so well, she began to suspect that Jacqueline was hiding something from her. Perhaps she wasn’t even going to work for the FANY. Had she just told Didi that to make her believe that it was important war work she would be doing when really it was just a way of making ends meet?
Jacqueline herself could not stop thinking about the interview, and what it would mean to her if she was offered the position and accepted it. Jepson had told her to think very hard about what it involved and advised her not to rush into a decision, but she already knew what she was going to do.