Wren Christian Lamb

Hi all,

I can't find any mention here of the author whose book about Wrens I am currently reading - Christian Lamb, nee Oldham. She worked at a degaussing station and apparently at Combined Ops on maps used for the Normandy Landings.

She met her husband aboard HMS Oribi which put into Belfast with storm damage. They had a whirlwind romance and were engaged just 10 days later. She was working as a plotter at the time and describes being on duty when 3rd Support Group including Oribi had joined convoy ONS 5 which was the focus of a very large battle with u boats.

At the time of posting Lamb is apparently still alive and is 105!! She published her war memoirs in 2021 and an earlier book on Wrens in 2007.

 

(I don't know what her final rank in the Wrens was that I could put into the title of the thread)

 

Assuming this is the same person, Mrs Christian Mary Lamb, this is all I can find, Navy Lists from October 1941, Third Officer.





According to Ancestry, this next is from 1944, but the entry still refers to October ‘41.

 

Christian Lamb - Wikipedia
?

 

Yes, that's her!

 

Good. Hope the Books by and References there help too. Very interesting lady and great that she's still 'afloat', as one might say.

Purely from a former management curiosity, I noted her marriage and the date of the birth of their daughter, which may account for her hearing about the Normandy landings on the radio. Given her role(s), she would very probably have been privileged (and restrained) by awareness of 'compartmented' OVERLORD information against strict 'need to know' (NTK) criteria. At that time WRNS would have had to be discharged quickly if expecting, as attested at: What Life Was Like for a Woman in the Navy During World War Two but in her case, this would have necessitated an undesired addition to the NTK numbers. I could just imagine an employing officer 'keeping Mum' (pun not intended) for as long as possible to reduce that need. This would have carried a risk, especially if she was working underground, because of flights of stairs etc and emergency evacuation procedures.

Anyway, you might also be interested in the not disconnected: D-Day Map used by Eisenhower still stands in DIO building – Inside DIO and the said map and markers, which were largely made from wood. You will note the associated anecdote that "staff from the manufacturing company were not allowed to return home" to preserve the compartmented knowledge of it - reputedly assembled in April 1944 and the (not briefed beforehand) chippies kept incommunicado on base till D+14.

This - and other Combined Ops info - Combined Operations HQ - Memories of a Secretary may also be of interest.

Hope you enjoyed recent sojourn.

 

Thank you for all that! I haven't gotten as far as D-Day in the book and I had not thought about her pregnancy and potential discharge from the service.

 

Thank you Wobbler, that makes sense. I haven't looked at those lists before, but that would be her date of promotion rather than enlistment? From the book, she enlisted in 1939 not long after war was declared.

 

I’d only be guessing myself, to be honest, but your suggestion does sound right to me. I went right back to the beginning of the volume my screenshot was taken from and, as you can see, it was February 1944.

I’d assume, therefore, that it would indeed be showing her current rank at that time and also the date she was given that rank. The dates given on the other, early pages that I attach here would seem to back that up.

Whether that’s the rank she finished the war with I can’t see, she could have been promoted further after February ‘44, of course. However, I can’t find anything else on her on Ancestry, although maybe FMP has more, but I don’t have that.

And when did she leave the service? I see she gave birth to her daughter in the autumn of ‘44, but the Wiki page says she did not leave military service until 1945, so maybe a year or more after this list was published…