Around five years ago, author Jacqueline Dinan reached out to Country Women's Associations and Legacy's Branch Networks across the country in search of some great anecdotes from World War Two.
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Yass' Thea Commins filled in the required questionnaire and responded with an absolute beauty, which is now published in 'Between the Dances'.
"I was the NCO in charge at a recruit training camp in Ingleburn," the 93-year-old recalled.
"I remember getting up at about 5am, it was teeming with rain, so I put the greatcoat over the pyjamas, towel in my pocket and I walked about a mile up the road to have a hot shower which at that time ran on 'coke' and I could see a soldier there putting coke in the boiler but I didn't really think anything of it.
"Anyway I got in there, got my gear off, got in the shower and thought 'there's a presence here somebody's looking at me' and I looked over and on this corrugated wall there was a nail hole and right there was an eye! So I got some soap and I rubbed it on the wall where the hole was and he just slowly walked away. I've never found out who it was, so I told Jacqueline that, that's what's in her book."
Thea, who moved to Yass 12 months ago to be closer to family, enlisted at the Sydney Showground at 21 after being inspired by her father, a pilot in the No 2 Squadron from World War One.
"Well I hoped when I first joined up that I'd be an anti-aircraft gunner or searchlight operator as the Australian east coast, from the Brisbane line down, was manned by women then because we were just short of male soldiers.
"But during the recruit training course I was called into the CO's office and she said 'well you're going to stay here on recruit training' and I drew breath and said 'oh no madam I joined up to be in searchlights, she said 'you heard what I said' and I said 'yes madam', saluted and marched out."
Thea went on to train women recruits in army life generally, room and ground drills, badges of rank and in other things that happened in the army.
She said she looks back at her time at Ingleburn Camp (near Liverpool) with fondness.
"I did [like this job], because I enjoyed the staff that was there and I felt that I was really doing something in getting all the girls through, because after me they were all posted to other areas.
"In saying that it was a time of great tragedy, we had friends being killed, boyfriends being killed, families broken up, they were very sad days."
After the war Thea and her late husband Hal, who she met at a mess party at Ingleburn, worked for one of the first large plastic companies in Australia and lived in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.
"He was about to be trained as a 'biscuit bomber' when I met him, which means he was going to go up in an aircraft and drop parachutes of food down to anyone who needed help, in Papua New Guinea particularly," she said.
Thea and Hal had two girls, Louise and Judy (now living in Yass), but in 1980 Hal passed away after battling lung cancer.
She said she's impressed with what Jacqueline has put together in 'Between the Dances'.
"I think she's done an enormous amount of research and work on it, I think it's absolutely wonderful and it's a privilege to be part of."