Case study: Freda King

Freda had lived in the Council Houses in Wethersfield for 16 years, attending Finchingfield Primary School and Braintree Secondary College.

Tom was an Australian airman, serving with the 299th Squadron which was based in Wethersfield from October 1944 to January 1945. Tom was a navigator with the crew nicknamed "Bitter Sweet", containing a Canadian, a New Zealander, another Australian and two Englishmen. Their job was to tow gliders, drop paratroops and drop supplies to resistances forces across the English Channel. It was during this time, on the 8 Nov 1944, that Tom and Freda met at the Wethersfield Dance and it was love at first sight.

During the war years Freda worked in the laboratory at Courtaulds testing parachute material and so her dream of a beautiful wedding dress was made possible by the creation of a dress from 'unsuitable' parachute material scraps. After the war Freda sailed to Australia to live with Tom where they

lived happily with their three children.This is Freda’s wedding dress that she made from scraps of parachute silk. Images courtesy of Braintree Museum