'Why I'll be so proud to take Sunday's salute'.

Byline: By Abby Alford South Wales Echo 

When Cardiff's Lord Mayor Gill Bird takes the salute at the city's Remembrance Day parade on Sunday it will hold extra significance for her.

For behind the mayoral robes and chains, Gill hides a secret past.

At the age of 19, 40 years ago, she became the youngest person ever to be made a Sergeant in the British Army.

It is an achievement few know about, but of which she is understandably proud and which, to this day, gives her an affinity with the young men and women who put their lives on the line for their country.

"Because of my military background, I do feel particularly proud to take the salute," said grandmother-of-eight Gill, mum to daughters Samantha, 30, a nurse who lives in Pontypridd, and Alex, 28, a teacher at Parc Prison who lives in Bridgend, and stepmother to Peter, 41, and Julie, 45.

"I was at the unveiling of the Falklands War memorial in Cardiff, and that was a very emotional day.

"We had veterans come along from all over Wales and I enjoyed telling them about my time in the Army. They enjoyed hearing about it and it gave us a special bond."

Gill, who calls herself "a council house kid from Llanrumney", went to Lady Margaret's, a girls' grammar school off Colchester Avenue in Cardiff, after passing her 11-plus exam.

She said: "I was about 13 when we had a careers fair and a captain in the Women's Royal Army Corps came and gave us a talk and I said to my friends, 'I am going to join the Army'.

"I just thought I wanted to travel and I wanted to see the world and it seemed like an exciting life."

Before joining the Army, Gill had only left Wales twice, one of the trips included a visit to Bristol Zoo.

But despite her high hopes to travel, she didn't make it too far from Wales after all.

"As soon as I was old enough I joined up. It was 1965 and I was going to go in the Signals, but they found out I was colour blind when I had my medical so they put me in the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) and we got trained in accountancy, so all my jobs since have been in that field," she said.

"My training was done at Worthy Down in Winchester, Hampshire. Then I went to the Regimental Pay Office in Taunton, so I didn't get to see the world after all."

Gill found herself in the minority, being one of about 10 women in a regiment of more than 200 men.

"It was really good fun, a very innocent sort of fun," she said.

"We lived in barracks and lived and worked alongside the men.

"It was just a lovely, lovely time."

And she quickly moved through the ranks.

She said: "I was promoted from Private to Lance Corporal, then to Corporal and was finally made a Sergeant at 19 and I was on the front of the Echo because at the time, I was the youngest Sergeant out of the men and women in the British Army.

"My parents had to give their permission for me to join the Army because I was only 17 and I think they were very apprehensive, but then they were very proud of me when I became a Sergeant."

Gill said that although she wasn't on the front lines, she enjoyed her vital role in administration.

"In the RAPC, we made sure the thousands of people who served the country in hundreds of regiments were paid," she said.

"Part of that work involved putting their details into the new computers being installed by the Army.

"We had to use punch cards and the computers, although state-of-the-art at the time, practically took up the whole room.

"I think I did so well because I actually enjoyed what I was doing."

She was later put in charge of a unit of soldiers, a responsible role she was immensely proud of.

"When I was made a Sergeant, I became one of a few Sergeants in charge of a unit made up of men and women," she said.

"I used to take them for drill in the parade square - making sure they marched in time and were well turned out.

"To this day, when I take the salute and they march past I feel the urge to sort out their drill.

"But I wasn't a tough Sergeant, I was a softy."

Gill served for seven years in her own right and then met her husband Peter, who was stationed in Taunton with her in the RAPC.

The couple were married and went to Northern Ireland in 1972 for three years, based in Lisburn, just outside Belfast.

"We didn't get to go outside of the camp very much," she said.

"I remember hearing about lots of explosions and there were a number of bomb scares, but my time in the Army, both serving and as an Army wife, was a doddle compared to what the youngsters have to go through today, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Gill said she was proud of the many men and women who take on what she believes is an increasingly tough job serving in the Army.

"I admire the youngsters in the forces so much in this day and age because they know the danger that's in front of them and they are so brave," she said.

"I don't think we, as a nation, appreciate them enough.

"After all, they are representing us and they don't decide to go to these places off their own backs, they are sent by our Government and we should appreciate them a lot more."

Gill admits she had an easier time in her Army days.

"I loved my time in the Army," she said.

"It was a lovely way to spend my youth - very carefree.

"And my husband still calls me Sarge!"