Anne Robson served in the WWII Veteran and Trailblazer during WWII. She was the oldest serving female WWII veteran in the UK before dying recently at the age of 108. It happened on January 20, 2020, when she did in her nursing home near Edinburgh. Not only was she the oldest female WWII veteran, she was the oldest living member of the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) and the oldest surviving member of the ATS. People around the world and in the UK were celebrating her dedication and bravery during a difficult time in British Empire history. At birth, she was Gladys Anne Logan Robson. She was born in Duns, Sept 14, 1911.
During her youth, nations in her area were going through much turmoil. She was witness to some of the most difficult times in human history, from the 1918 Spanish Flu to the two World Wars. Robson had become a physiotherapist in 1933 and then a teacher in the same year. She ended up joining the army when she was thirty, volunteering to serve in the ATC. She was a physical training instructor and use her teaching and physiotherapy to help. It wasn’t long before she had achieved the rank of Senior Commander (Major) as the Assistant Inspector for ATS Physical Training.
Anne would go back to her former profession after the war with more experience at her disposal.
She got a job as a senior lecturer at the Avery Hill College of Education in London before marrying the Jack Robson in 1953. He was a primary school headmaster but passed away in 1972. The Forces Network said that Robson “had a naughty twinkle in her eye” when she thought about VE Day.
Her friends and family would know her mischievous side very well. They said she had “a naughty sense of humor.” She was also remembered as bine a ‘gentlewoman’ and was quite reliable. She also drove a car until she was 90.
The world lost an amazing woman, and it’s good to stop and think about her life during this time.