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"This story was submitted to the site by the 大象传媒's Peoples War Team in the East Midlands with Leslie Perrys permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

MEMORIES OF LESLIE PERRY RECORDED BY HIS DAUGHTER LESLEY WHITTAKER

My dad who is 89 now was married to my mum on 27th August 1939 and war was declared on Sept 3rd of that year. What a way to start married life! They had planned a honeymoon on the Isle of Wight but that was not possible so they went to a hotel in London for a few days before moving into their newly built house in Luton, Beds.

By March 1940 my dad had been called up but was not A1 fit - he was category C but was never told why or what was wrong with him. He had been working in the offices at the CO-OP as a cashier since leaving school at 14 so he was ascribed to the Army Pay Corps with the rank of Sergeant. His 鈥渓ack of fitness鈥� did him a favour in some ways because he was not actively fighting and his pay went up from just under 拢4 a week to 拢12 a week. After basic training in Winchester and a short while in Sussex he was stationed in central London and lodging with 11 others from the Pay Corps in a 3 storey building in Baker St.

It was here that he experienced the Blitz. He was 3 storeys up and night after night the bombs fell around them. They did not have a shelter but just stayed in bed, deafened by the noise and praying that they would be missed. One weekend when he had a pass and was at home in Luton, the property was hit. Had he been there he probably would not have survived. He is now severely deaf and this has been put down to the damage to his ears caused by the bombing but at least he is still alive.

Opposite their lodgings was Madame Tussauds and they went in often because it was free for the troops. Sometimes parties would be held there to entertain the troops. My dad went home whenever he could. It was only 3 shillings and sixpence return on the train to Luton and only took about half an hour. Sometimes he would risk going without a pass and one night he was nearly caught out. He got back to London to find there had been heavy bombing and he couldn鈥檛 get any transport back to his digs. He had to walk through the mayhem of bombed and burning buildings but managed to make it.

After a while his offices were moved to near Harrods in Kensington and he lived in a flat near there. In their lunch hour they would spend time walking round Harrods or go into Green Park. He had a lot of responsibility in his job. He dealt with pay for soldiers who had been killed in action or sometimes where marriages had broken up. If a file came through with a red tab on it, it had to receive immediate attention and was one of theses cases. Sometimes he had to go out and interview widows and complete all the paperwork- not a very pleasant job.

One benefit for the troops was free rail travel so when they had leave they would try and find somewhere a long way away to visit. So my Mum and Dad went to Cornwall for a holiday. They had a pretty dismal time because all the beaches had defences on them and a lot of places like Lands End had practically shut down for the war. Then they travelled back the day after Plymouth had been raised to the ground and as they went through, the fires were still burning. It was a scene of devastation they never forgot.

I was born in June 1944. Shortly after that my dad was able to live at home and travel daily to London. He got up at 5.30 and caught the Workmen鈥檚 train at 6.30 am. He still did not see a lot of me but it was better than being away all the time. He was discharged in June 1946 when I was just 2 years old.

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