One of Women’s Land Army’s last surviving members Beulah Midson shares hope for recognition for the role they played in World War II

AS a teenager, Beulah Midson answered the call during WWII and signed up to join the Women’s Land Army to keep the home front alive and working while the men went to war.

Beulah Midson, 90, said it’s a great shame the Women’s Land Army has never received the recognition it deserves for the important role it played during World War II.

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AS a teenager, Grasmere’s Beulah Midson answered the call during World War II and signed up to join the Women’s Land Army to keep the home front alive and working while the men went to war.

Mrs Midson, now 90, of Grasmere, enlisted at age 18 and was part of the army of women who were posted around the country to work on farms, in factories and offices; in jobs left vacant when the men enlisted for military service.

Today, more than 70 years on, Mrs Midson, who lives at Carrington Care, remains frustrated and disappointed about the little recognition of the Women’s Land Army from Veterans Affairs and that few people know of the important role the women played.

The great grandmother said she was one of three remaining members of the Women’s Land Army living in the Macarthur area.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the land army in Australia and New Zealand and what our girls who were left behind, and also the nurses, did,’’ she said.

“If it hadn’t been for the girls, they would have had to bring people from overseas to do the jobs we did.

“The land army never got the recognition they should have got and that’s a shame.

“They (the women) were innocent of what they were doing. They did the jobs they were asked.’’

Beulah Midson pictured in her Women’s Land Army uniform at age 18.

Today, Mrs Midson wants more recognition for the Women’s Land Army.

Mrs Midson joined the land army at age 18 during the last year of the war in 1945.

She was living at the family home in Sydney’s south at the time and recalls her mum and dad were shocked when she enlisted.

Her first posting was to Griffith to work on a farm, picking grapes and figs and her pay was 3 pounds 10 a week.

She was then posted to work in an office in Sydney.

When the war ended, she was working at her posting in a dehydrated potato factory at Batlow, in the south west slopes of NSW.

They prepared and packaged the potatoes in kerosene tins before they were sent to our troops overseas.

When the war ended on September 2, in 1945, Mrs Midson and her fellow land army members in Batlow were given a train ticket and they left for Sydney the next day.

As a member of the land army, she took part in a march along Martin Place that honoured the end of the war.

“We were shoved down the back and nobody seemed to know who we were,’’ she said.

Mrs Midson then returned home to be with her parents and carried on with her life.

She said during the war, the land army was going to be added to the control of Veterans Affairs through an act of parliament but peace was declared and the plan did not proceed.

Beulah Midson is pictured at the front, far left, in this photo which was taken in 1945.

Mrs Midson, who is a member of the Camden RSL Club sub-branch, said she took part in a 70th anniversary service at Parliament House in Canberra in 2012 and this was one of the few recognitions the land army had received.

She said The Oaks Historical Society had also researched and documented the work of the Women’s Land Army and hosted a reunion.

Mrs Midson also took part in an Anzac Day service at Carrington Care and laid a wreath during the ceremony.

Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia national president Ken Foster, of Minto, said he was keen to investigate what system and department the Women’s Land Army was under and to see if a recognition was available, such as possibly marking their 75th anniversary.

Mr Foster was also keen to feature Mrs Midson’s story in next month’s edition of the Veterans News, which he edits.

“I’m more than happy to have a look at the situation and see what can be done,’’ he said.

Mr Foster said a similar situation was faced by the civilian nurses who assisted during the Vietnam War.

He said the nurses had been lobbying for recognition for years but if they were under a different system, and not Veterans Affairs, it could be hard to get any recognition for them.