About
The War Years
Christian had left school at 18 and was in France staying with a French family, later planning to go on to Oxford where her sister already was.
Not having read a newspaper for ages she was surprised to receive a telegram from her father, Admiral Ronald Wolseley Oldham, O.B.E, telling her to come home, as war was imminent.
Arriving home just as War was declared, Christian was among the first of the Wrens to join in WW2. After a stint at the Kensington training establishment and then HQ, Christian was promoted to Leading Wren and moved to the Coalhouse Fort in Tilbury where she had been appointed Degaussing Recorder in Charge – aged about 20.
A year later she was promoted to Third Officer WRNS, appointed to Plotting Officer at the HQ in Plymouth.
After another a year in Plymouth the whole station was moved to Liverpool and she was appointed to plot at Belfast. Just North of this port was the point at which many of the ships would gather to join the convoys crossing the Atlantic.
Here she was in charge of a watch in the operations room at Belfast Castle where the Navy was based. Many of the ships taking part in escorting these convoys were damaged by the atrocious weather in the Atlantic Ocean and some were sent into Belfast for repairs. A Fleet Destroyer HMS Oribi arrived expecting to be several days in dock.
Here she met Lieutenant John Lamb DSC, the First Lieutenant of HMS Oribi and they became engaged to be married after just ten days. Which immediately called for a memorable celebration, which had hardly finished in time for the ship to be recalled back to sea on April 29. 1943 to escort a very slow convoy – the famous ONS 5.
Made famous by the headline in the Daily Express
WAR’S BIGGEST U-BATTLE – NAVY BEATS OFF 25 -4 SUNK – 6 LIKELIES.
Early in 1944 Christian was posted to Combined operations HQ at Richmond Terrace, Whitehall and her new vital role was to be working there under the Command of Rear Admiral HE Horan.
“ I was to be working on the actual maps of the planned landings.
My small office below stairs was for me alone; there many of us working on individual pieces of the enormous jigsaw, none of us knew or ever discussed what the others were doing.
The real chosen landing places for the invasion on which my task was based were pinpointed for me on the large scale maps of France in my office, and my particular brief was to delineate everything that could be seen on every compass bearing from each landing position visible from the bridge of an approaching landing craft. The big scale Ordnance survey maps were spread out on the wall and showed railways, roads, churches castles, and every possible feature to an incoming invader and from every angle. It was intense and exciting work and obviously important to be detailed and accurate.
D Day happened on June 6th 1944 and when at 6am I heard the announcement on the radio I was thrilled to know that at last we had managed to carry out the plans, which had been envisaged for so long by so many brilliant brains. We were there! It was the beginning of our campaign to help get back France for the French.”