Before Amelia traveled to the United States, she attended school until age 14 when she went to work in a biscuit factory to help earn money for the family. Her father, a veteran of World War I, died when she was 17, right around the time when World War II began.
“My mum was a widow and I had a choice of munitions factory or women’s services,” she said.
While her three younger brothers went to war, Amelia chose to work in the munitions factory testing and inspecting detonators, which was very dangerous work. Because of the danger working there paid more. The factory she worked in had its own train that rolled into the factory. Only 10 women worked there as it was a secretive operation.
“We had to wear uniforms. Denim coveralls because we were working with TNT. We had to cover all our hair, take off all of our makeup. We had to put on a special cream and special shoes,” she said.
The work was so dangerous that many women lost fingers. There were accidents often, and one in which Amelia’s friend was killed. She worked the night shift and remembered spending many nights in the air raid shelters as the city was bombed.
“Before we went to the munitions factory, we had to do ‘fire watching.’ We had to check that they weren’t dropping fire bombs,” she said.
Amelia met her husband, who was a medic in the war, at a dance one night. They were soon married and her husband traveled back to Ohio. Amelia stayed behind in England with their first child until she could get clearance to come to the United States. In 1947, she traveled by boat with a 2-year-old for 10 days.
“It was a freighter. We had one nurse. I was sicker than a dog. I lost 10 pounds on my way here,” she said.
Amelia and her husband moved in with his parents until a house was built for them as there was a major housing shortage after the war. Eventually they settled into their own home and had three children. Amelia said that she wasn’t the only “war bride” in Greenville.
“There were 17 of us. All foreigners. We invaded Greenville. Greenville’s population all those years ago was not very big. Everybody told us we were ‘war brides,’” she said.
Amelia and those 17 women who were from England, France and Australia, would get together for tea so often. After having her last two daughters, she went to work as a cook in the school across the street from her home.
In 1994, Amelia’s husband passed away and she has been living on her own ever since. She spends her time doing crosswords and she enjoys shopping. She also has three grandkids and five great-grandkids.
She still has some family in England, but hasn’t been back for quite some time. While she doesn’t necessarily want to go back because it would just be too expensive, there is one thing she’d like to do.
“One more time to see the ocean. We used to go to the seaside all the time. Everyone wants to visit London, but the most beautiful part of England is the countryside, west of England near the seaside,” she said.
Amelia celebrated her birthday with a blowout at the Elks on Saturday, March 4. The party went until 11 p.m. Amelia said that she never goes to bed before midnight. She’s been known to be the life of the party. Amelia said she doesn’t have the secret to living a long life, except for maybe one thing.
“Just eat well. There’s all this trashy food. I cook. She [mother-in-law] showed me how to cook. They were nice. I had nice in-laws,” she said.
Amelia loves to cook, and she still loves fish ‘n chips. When asked what she might do for her 101st birthday she said, “look in the mirror and say, ‘O you poor old thing,’” she said laughing. It seems a sense of humor is the secret to living a long life.
About the Author