No matter how bad the day was…

Corporal Lauren Smith

When Lauren Smith joined the RAF her great-grandmother, Joyce Edwards, was delighted. Edwards was a former Women’s Auxiliary Air Force cook and the widow of John Madge, who was killed flying with Bomber Command in 1944. During Smith’s basic training her great-grandmother died suddenly, forcing her to decide whether to finish the course or to go to the funeral and delay her graduation. Smith chose to complete the training and proudly carried her great-grandmother’s photograph in her tunic pocket at her passing-out parade.