Salvation Army volunteer aged 103 reflects on VE Day

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, The Salvation Army is paying tribute to a 103-year-old volunteer who served in the Royal Navy during World War Two. 

Grace Friar, from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, worked at a naval hospital in Aberdeen caring for wounded service personnel. Grace was posted there in 1940, aged just 19, and later became the youngest petty officer in Scotland at 21.  

Grace has never stopped helping others and continues to volunteer with her local Salvation Army, sorting donated clothes at the Harvestfield Furniture Project.

To celebrate Grace’s courage and resilience, The Salvation Army is hosting a special VE Day ‘street party’ at Harvestfield on Thursday 8 May (10am -12pm), featuring a special Q&A with Grace and local schoolchildren.

Grace’s memories of WW2 are vivid. One night during an air raid, a bomb landed just 20 yards away and the blast knocked Grace off her feet. Remarkably, she has the Red Cross card she was carrying that night, burn marks from the explosion still visible.

“The planes flew so low,” Grace recalled, “I could see the faces of the pilots.”

She also recalls the heartbreak of seeing a young boy killed during a raid and later, being on duty when her brother Thomas was carried in on a stretcher having been shot. Sadly, he died of a blood clot before the war ended.

Despite her youth, Grace carried herself with maturity beyond her years. “I never thought of myself as young,” she said. “It was my calling to help others. What I noticed during the war was the bravery of the women from The Salvation Army. They would give up their spots in air raid shelters to help others – putting out fires, guiding people to safety, taking the injured to hospital. They didn’t seem to be scared.”

On VE Day in 1945, while millions celebrated in the streets, Grace stayed on duty. She said: “I was exhausted. I couldn’t rejoice – I just sat in the corner thinking about those who wouldn’t be going home. I saw the war from the inside. We had people come to the hospital from across the world. I saw them as a person in need, never an enemy.”

It was that courage that inspired Grace to join The Salvation Army. When her husband John died in 2003, she went along to a coffee morning and felt so at home that she became a member of the church. She said: “They were short of staff so I volunteered to help out and in 2012 I began working at The Salvation Army’s new Harvestfield Furniture Project where I continue to work every Friday.”

Grace’s reflections are as moving as they are relevant. She said: “I can see why they call it the greatest generation. People helped each other, shared food, were kind… the world needs more kindness. War is futile – it only brings sadness and misery. I don’t understand why leaders can’t talk it out.”

The Harvestfield Furniture Project is located at Units 1-4 Marrtree Business Park, Windmill Way East, Ramparts Business Park, Berwick-Upon-Tweed TD15 1TU, telephone 01289 332875. It opens 9am – 4pm Monday to Saturday