A WARTIME heroine who lied about her age to join the army so she could meet a soldier only to end up helping shoot down enemy planes has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Grace Taylor was 16 when she signed up for the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) in the hope of finding a dashing serviceman she had recently met at a dance.

She soon found herself in the thick of it as a 'gunner girl' based in a mixed anti-aircraft battery on the south coast.

Grace was trained as a spotter and height finder in the days before radar.

She could expertly pick out the shape and wing span of an aircraft to immediately determine if it was German or British.

Protected only by a helmet, the spotters were incredibly exposed to swooping German planes and at night the searchlights they used made them visible targets.

They were the last line of defence before the Luftwaffe reached Britain's towns and cities during the Blitz.

Grace spent four years in the ATS and even got to meet King George VI during an inspection of her ATS unit.

She never saw the soldier who stole her heart again and married husband, Bob, a driver attached to the Royal Artillery, in 1944.

He died in 1991 and Grace lives independently in Poole, where she remains president of the Poole Royal Artillery Association.

She marked her 100th birthday with a surprise party. She was greeted by dozens of family, friends and members of the association holding standards when she arrived at Oakdale Conservative Club in Poole.

Grace said: "I had no idea they were going to do this for me. It is very special."

Suzanne Lawrence, her niece, said: "This was a complete surprise for Grace. When we arrived and she got out the car the standards were waiting for her.

"She was very proud and emotional.

"Grace is incredible. She is still so independent and active. She lives independently, cooks her own meals and goes shopping."

Grace was a servant girl in Brentwood, Essex, before she joined the ATS in April 1941 when she was still aged 16. The required age was 17.

She said: "I had such a lonely life after I lost my mum (working as a servant) so I grabbed the opportunity to make friends in the ATS.

"I was with a lovely group of girls and stayed with them.

"I went in to service as a girl and came out as a woman."

She was stationed at several batteries including Crown Hill outside Plymouth, where she was in the lead-up to D-Day.

She remembers other gun sites being wiped out by German aircraft and says she feels lucky to have survived.

Grace said: "Our alarm would go off and you would have to pick up your steel helmet and your gas mask and run up to the command post where the four guns were.

"My job was to find the bearing and angle and height of the actual plane.

"The men needed the girls to tell them where to fire and the girls needed the men to do the firing.

"We tried not to show that we were frightened, but I do know of a gun site which was exactly the same as ours on the south coast and they were firing on a particular night with Nazis coming over and one of the planes dived and fired at the gun site.

"Twelve people were killed, girls and boys.

"I think to myself wasn't I lucky that didn't happen to us."

Post-war, she worked as a GPO telephonist and then ran pubs and hotels in Somerset with Bob, before they retired to Cornwall.

Regimental Sergeant Major Gemma Begley, of 14 Regiment, Royal Artillery, attended Grace's party. She said: "Grace is inspirational and we owe her generation so much.

"It is a proud moment to be here."

One of the guests was TV historian Dr Tessa Dunlop, who wrote about Grace in her 2021 book Army Girls.

She said: "Grace was one of the original gunner girls. She provided the aptitude and brains and dedication, ensuring the anti aircraft guns were lined up and firing on target at enemy raiders day and night.

"It has been a great joy to get to know Grace in the course of writing Army Girls and we have become great friends."