Leader: Joining up: first women to join Huddersfield And District Army Veterans Association

Nov 27 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HOW wonderful that two Huddersfield women are making history – and breaking a 112-year tradition.

Betty France – widow of a Dunkirk veteran – and Mary Kenworthy both signed up for the forces and have now decided to join the Huddersfield And District Army Veterans Association after seeing women joining the ranks of the Chelsea Pensioners earlier this year.

Betty and Mary are a great reminder of the vital role that thousands of women play in wartime. Betty joined up straight away and recalls reporting for her first day of duty right at the outbreak of World War Two in 1939.

Now the hope is that they will inspire others to join the veterans’ ranks.

It does beg one question though. Whey should it taken so many years for the realisation to come countrywide that the army veterans are far from being a male-only preserve?