My name is Mary Colley. I enlisted as Mary Reid.
I was born in Sydney in 1923 and lived in Blandford with my grandparents from the age of 8. My father died not long after I was born and my mother had remarried.
When I was 16 years old, I went back to Sydney and stayed with my sister, Joan, in Bondi. The Japanese bombs from the mini submarines went over my sister’s house in Bondi, it was very scary. We went downstairs and found a safe place to hide.
That experience may have been one of the reasons why I decided to join the Army. I think I was just under 18 when I first joined. There was eight weeks of training with lots of marching. We had a gun but you didn’t shoot it, you just held it over your shoulder. I didn’t mind the uniform; we had a winter and a summer uniform, and you always had to wear your hat when you were out.
After training I was sent to Bathurst and that’s where I met my husband, Frank. He was the Sergeant in charge of the section that I was posted to. It was made up of 20 people including six women. Frank was very serious and at the time I didn’t really like him. The girls would occasionally go into the city of Bathurst and have sundaes. Frank would be there sometimes and eventually he’d take me for lunch. Then one Sunday we were there and he asked me to marry him. I didn’t need to think about it and said ‘yes’ straight away.
We then went to Sydney to his parents to visit and to tell them of our engagement. We married at St Peter’s Church in Neutral Bay not long after - in uniform, as was my girlfriend and Frank’s brother. Unfortunately, we made a mistake as we weren’t allowed to stay posted at the same place after marriage. As a result, I was moved into the city - Sydney - to work while Frank stayed in Bathurst. I’d travel to Bathurst on time off and we would spend a weekend together.
Frank had already been deployed overseas and had fought in Egypt against the Italians and Germans and not long after the wedding Frank was posted to Labuan in Borneo working there until the war ended. We didn’t see each other for over two years. I stayed with my sister in the city and continued to work for the Army.
I did lots of different jobs, usually administration but I also worked in equipment storage and distribution. I also remember working with military vehicles at one stage. When you were in the Army in those days you did not have a regular job. You changed job roles depending on what needed to be done.
I am proud of my time in the Army and if it had not been for that time in my life, I would not have met Frank and I would not have had my two sons. I also now have five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Some good has to come out of what was a very scary time.
This is the story of Mary Colley as told to Carla Edwards.
