A BANGOR resident who tracked enemy aircraft during World War II has recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
Joan Gillespie (née Caldwell), was treated to a very special birthday meal at Le Winters in Newtownards on July 2.
Born in Belfast to James and Joanna, Joan was their middle child, having an older sister and younger brother.
Educated in Belfast, she spent her childhood playing in and around Orangefield House in east Belfast and the area around the Castlereagh and Bloomfield roads.
Through a work colleague, she met the man who was to be her husband for 58 years. Denis Gillespie joined the army not long after they were introduced, and was posted to numerous places abroad. That meant seeing each other on the occasions Denis was home on leave.
Joan also joined the forces, adding two years onto her age in order to do so. She became a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), and was delighted to get a posting at the same Orangefield House which was only a few minutes away from her mum’s house.
At Orangefield House she was a plotter and tracked enemy aircraft on large map tables. Joan and Denis married on September 17, 1945 exactly one year after Denis had parachuted into Arnhem; known as a Pathfinder, he laid markers on the landing area for the gliders, equipment and troops to land.
He arranged the whole wedding in four days, as Joan had been transferred to England and was coming home on leave.
Joan and Denis, who moved to Bangor in the mid 1960s, had three daughters, Elaine, Carol and Denise.
