Waiting, but not watching – Helen Peters’ story:
Our activity marking 30 years since Operation Desert Storm/GRANBY has focused on those who were there and the impact the conflict had on many families.
Here we speak to Helen Peters, wife of John. We have shared clips of John talking about being captured by Iraqi forces on the first day of the conflict, but we also wanted to tell another side to the story: what it was like being at home waiting for news, getting through each day and the importance of friends.
When Operation GRANBY started in August 1990, Helen, John and their two children were living in Germany, at RAF Laarbruch. John was deployed to the Gulf and Helen carried on with life bringing up a young family.
Helen found out from a neighbour that the conflict had started on 17 February 1991 and was then glued to the television until the early hours, watching the situation unfold. That was a Sunday.On the Monday Helen remembers vividly receiving a phone call from John’s squadron boss’s wife, Maggie. “She asked to pop round. I don’t know why, but I thought ‘if Maggie comes round on her bike, it’s sort of OK. If she’s not on her bike, that might be something different’. When I opened the door, I didn’t even notice who was standing there. I just saw the station commander’s car, with the flag on it. That meant official business. It was Maggie and Neil Buckland, the RAF Laarbruch station commander. Then I knew it was serious. I remember Maggie saying ‘It’s OK. It’s OK. But John didn’t come back off the sortie’. Then they came in.”
As well as the support Helen received from the station, her friends rallied round, doing everything they could to help. Helen said: “For the first three or four days, I was never alone. The girl friends and neighbours rallied round and stayed overnight. But I was breastfeeding, potty training – oh yes, must remember to eat! They fielded the phone calls and checked I wanted to speak to people.
“I 100 per cent relied on the station commander and Dave Woosey, our intelligence officer. I made it a policy to limit the information I was getting: I never bought a newspaper or watched any reports, because 90 per cent of it was rubbish. If anything did filter through to me, I checked with Dave or Neil.”
Having a young family to care for gave Helen something to occupy her for much of the time John was in captivity. “It was my saving that I had got the children. Any family will know that the first priority every morning is the children – feeding them, dressing them, keeping them in their routine. That means that you are not just sitting there, watching what you could watch, calling the UK all the time and driving yourself crackers. Having children to look after, and dogs to walk are distractions.
“We’re the lucky ones. On behalf of 15 Squadron, I’d like to send out my love to Lynne Hicks because her husband Steve was not one of the ones to come home.”
You can hear more of Helen’s story in this short clip
The full interview will be shared as part of our activity on 28 February, the 30th anniversary of the end of hostilities.
Find out more about our series of events to mark 30 years since Operation Desert Storm / GRANBY which includes regular blogs and interviews in the lead up to the 28th February 2021, 30 years since the end of the Gulf War.
