On 15 Dec 1944, Aircraftswoman Ann Mugridge; the wife of RAFP Sgt Frank Mugridge, boarded the troopship Queen of Bermuda and began her perilous journey to India. At the tender age of 18, she had volunteered to join the WAAF in Jun 1941 and was posted to RAF Cottesmore. She was initially employed in the messing office but was later transferred to work in the station HQ. One day she was dealing with a ration invoice for oranges. Having never seen oranges on the unit she approached her WO and queried the invoice only to be told that they had been ordered for the aircrew. Ann, being a fairly well informed young lady, pointed out to the WO that children of 18 years and under were also entitled to the orange ration and therefore she was eligible. For some time after, until she reached the age of 19 plus, she received an orange as and when they became available. Ann made quite an impression on her WO because in addition to receiving her orange, he secretly gave her his chocolate ration. In May 1942, Ann had her first encounter with the enemy. She was walking on the unit one afternoon when she saw a FSgt running from side to side towards her shouting for her to take cover. Initially, she had no idea what was happening and stopped in the middle of the road. The FSgt reached her and pushed her against a nearby building and that was when she first saw the Messerschmitt. She recalled that it was so close that she saw the face of the pilot laughing at them as he flew by. The FSgt then pulled her towards the opposite end of the building telling her that the aircraft was coming back. As it did so, a hail of bullets struck the area where they had initially been standing. It was a lucky escape for Ann and her rescuer. In Aug 1943, Cottesmore was handed over to the Americans and Ann was transferred to RAF Market Harborough as a clerk in the station HQ. It was during that time that she met Frank Mugridge; a RAFP NCO working in the guardroom, and on the 12 Jul 1944 they were married. Unfortunately, because of the war the couple were soon separated when her husband was posted to Ceylon leaving his new bride behind to fend for herself. In Oct, Ann successfully responded to a bulletin asking for WAAF volunteers to serve in India.

On the 17 Jan 1945, she arrived in Bombay after the troopship had been chased by an enemy submarine during the final phase of the journey. For Ann, the best part of the voyage had been going through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea at night; after suffering 4 years of the British wartime blackout it had been wonderful to see the magnitude of lights glowing on the shore as the ship sailed by. Although her husband was serving with the SIB in Ceylon, he had arranged for his colleagues in Bombay to look after her during her tour in India and had written, telling her that two of his colleagues would meet her from the ship when it arrived. After disembarking, she was approached by 2 SIB men and although they were charming she felt as though she was under arrest as they escorted her away from the port and took her out to dinner. Living in the Astoria Hotel, Ann was assigned to work at Andheri; the site of today’s main airport. After being in Bombay for a few months, she met someone that she and her husband had known at Cottesmore. He had been given an invitation to a party for 2 and asked Ann if she would like to go with him. She accepted and much to her surprise, found herself in a very expensive apartment, owned by an Indian prince, being introduced to high ranking civilians and senior military personnel. After a while however, Ann was discretely approached by the same SIB WO who had first met her off the troopship. He was in company with a provost officer and together they suggested that she should quietly leave. Although she was enjoying herself, she found herself being led out of the building and being driven back to the Astoria Hotel. A few days later she heard that the SIB had arrived to arrest a high ranking civilian who was alleged to have been spying for the enemy. Soon after, Ann and her husband were reunited when he was posted from Ceylon to the SIB unit in Bombay.

In the latter half of 1945 a new wave of anti-British demonstrations swept India. Ann recalled that the demonstrations organised by the students in Bombay started off peacefully, but were soon taken over by trouble makers and then the majority of the community saw the protest as a means to settle old scores. She remembers that the demonstrators would stop uniformed British military personnel in the street and demand their hats or ties, which they would burn as an insult to British rule. As she was accommodated close to the university, it became a common and irritating practice. Later, Ann and a colleague from the Women’s (India) Army Corps were out shopping when they were surrounded by a group chanting ‘Down with the British’ and ‘Quit India’. Someone suggested taking the girls uniforms and burning them as a symbol of protest, and the girls were given the option of removing the uniforms or having them removed. Sensing the mood, they offered no resistance and calmly took off their shirts and skirts and handed them over to the cheering crowd. While the uniforms were being burnt, the 2 girls were ushered into a nearby shop where the kindly owner provided them with some replacement clothes and kept them out of harms way until the demonstrators had moved on. On another occasion, Ann, her husband and a friend were walking along a street when they were warned that a large group of protestors were heading their way. They were ushered into a nearby building and from an upstairs window saw a British Army Sgt still in the street just as the demonstrators came around the corner. They watched in horror as the jeering crowd made their way towards the unarmed NCO and all he could do was back up to the wall of a nearby hotel. The crowd started to close in and at that point some waiters from the hotel formed a human chain from a first floor window and reached down to help the Sgt. Amazingly, within seconds he had been lifted up and pulled to safety. In another incident, Ann was walking to meet the military vehicle that was taking her to work. As she turned the corner she saw that the vehicle had been attacked by a mob and its contents thrown into the street. The Indian driver had been beaten unconscious and dumped onto the cargo and the jeering crowd had set fire to it. Having no regard for her own safety, Ann ran screaming towards the mob, grabbed one of the attackers by his hair and pushed him towards the flames until he pulled the driver from the fire. Help soon arrived and the crowd quickly dispersed while the owner of a nearby chemist shop helped her to treat the injured driver until medical help arrived. She later recalled that although things had happened so quickly, she was not sure who had been more frightened, her or the Indian she was threatening to burn. Ann and her husband returned to the UK shortly before India was granted independence.