NAM.1994-03-246-1

Embroidered badge, Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), 1944-1945 This badge hung in Senior Commander (later Dame) Francis Coulshed's office when she was Deputy Assistant Director ATS (DADATS) in the GHQ Anti-Aircraft Troops, British Liberation Army (BLA) Brussels, 1944-1945. Dame (Mary) Francis Coulshed (1904-1998) was amongst the first to volunteer for the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1938. As a Company Assistant, she joined the 1st Derbyshire Company, ATS, attached to 68th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Command. In 1942 she command 32 Anti-Aircaft Brigade Group, with the rank of Senior Commander, and then commanded 31st Anti-Aircraft Brigade Group the following year. She was the first woman officer to serve in a mobile operational headquarters during the war as DADATS. At the end of the Second World War she was Assistant Director, ATS, 21st Army Group. She returned to the UK in 1946 as Deputy Director Anti-Aircraft Command, until becoming Deputy Director, Women’s Royal Army Corps in 1950. The following she became Director, WRAC with the rank of Brigadier until retirement in 1954.

World War Two, North West Europe (1944-1945)