102-year-old war veteran Joyce continues adventurous life on Remembrance Day
At 102, Joyce Glassop doesn’t do much driving now but seventy-three years ago as an ambulance driver for the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) driving was her life.
Joyce was part of an all-women team of drivers working behind the scenes as part of the war effort.
“I remember going to the old Brisbane exhibition building to enlist in 1942. They wanted women with driver’s licences because they wanted the young men to be fighting due to the threat from Japan,” she said.
“I had been a music teacher before that and I got tired of getting kids to practice. I enjoyed the change in occupation.”
“We’d pick up the men from the Howard Street Wharf and drive them to Tenterfield to a large house they converted into a hospital. They weren’t all injured, some were what we called ‘bomb happy’. I didn’t have anything to do with the patients though, we just drove the vehicles.”
“Some of the girls had a favourite vehicle and refused to drive any other ones.”
Joyce now lives at Carinity Aged Care – Brookfield and despite her age was ready to have a go riding in a 1942 Jeep at the facility’s Remembrance Day ceremony today which was broadcast live to all residents’ rooms.
Carinity’s Quality Senior Manager Dr Karen Thurecht said the jeep was volunteered as part of a Reminiscence Program.
“The use of reminiscence is the active or passive recalling of memories from the past. The benefits of reviewing one’s life can be an effective psychotherapeutic intervention in later life,” she said.
“Personal descriptions of past events and happenings add to the richness of our collective historical knowledge. A person knowing that their recollections enhances our country’s history, can provide tangible acknowledgement of that person’s contributions to our society. Engaging older people in conversations about their past not only helps them, but also helps everyone learn more about life and how it use to be. And it can also make us feel happy, which is good for wellbeing.”
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact:
Emma Sugget, Communications Officer, Carinity
Ph: (07) 3550 3769 / 0409 865 930
Email: emma.sugget@carinity.org.au
