Emmy Cathrine Mortensen
(1902 - 1960)
Profile
Emmy Mortensen was trained as nurse in Copenhagen before the war. She served as nurse in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during the war.
Emmy Cathrine Mortensen was born on 11 October 1902 in Copenhagen. She was the daughter of Augustinus Mortensen and Else Marie Mortensen (nee Godt).[1] She trained as a nurse at the Copenhagen Municipal Hospital from 1929 to 1931.[2]
She left Denmark for Britain, but the reason and the time is not known. In 1941-42, she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as Aircraftwoman 2nd Class (2046964).[3] Little is known of her service. She is known to have trained at 3 WAAF Depot, Morecambe, among other places. In August 1942, she served at the Station Sick Quarters at RAF Stranraer. This station was a seaplane base on the shores of Loch Ryan in Scotland. The Sick Quarters was located in the Queens Arms Hotel on the sea shore. Mortensen was billeted nearby in Rowantree in Lewis Street.[4]
Mortensen returned to Denmark after the war and worked at the nursing home Zarepta in Copenhagen. In June 1946, she married Thomas Joseph Byers, who was Station Master in Castle Kennedy, in Denmark.[5] It is presumed that the couple returned to Scotland.
The information on Emmy Mortensen’s service at RAF Stranraer was gathered with the help of members of the RAF Commands Forum.
Sources
[1] DNA: Parish record, Sct. Matthæus.
[2] DNA: 1930 Census.
[3] NA: AIR 27/78.
[4] DNA: 10194/37; Bell, A., Stranraer in the Second World War, 2017.
[5] DNA: Parish record, Frederiksberg