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When war broke out in 1939 I was 4 years old and vaguely remember mum & dad and my older brother huddled around the radio listening to news bulletins and talking of war. Their talk and mannerisms made me feel very uneasy but I was not sure why at the time.

Some time later the workmen turned up to build an air raid shelter in our back garden and I had fun with helping them to build it not really understanding the reason for it’s use. Then came the night when the haunting banshee wail of the air raid warning woke us up in the middle of the night and sent us scurrying in darkness to the bomb shelter. This was followed soon after by the thump, thump, thump of the mobile anti aircraft guns sited each night at either end of our road and the terrifying crunch of bombs exploding. Mum used to reassure us as we cried out saying “your alright, if you can hear them explode you are safe they can’t harm you. As the raids continued mum took to bedding us down in the shelter to avoid having to drag us out of bed in the dark especially as dad was mostly at work or on patrol with the Home Guard. The nearest bomb to our house landed some 50 yards away in the field behind the house. The noise of the blast and the shattering of roof tiles and windows was terrifying to us in our shelter where bits of concrete showered down on us from the ceiling. Mum was very strong though assuring us that everything was ok even though she must have been scared out of her wits. Later all the kids used the bomb crater as a trench to fight off the Germans and the Japs in numerous battles won.

At the time dad was a goods guard on the railway, a reserved occupation, and therefore had to belong to the home guard which took up a lot of his time when he was not working. His rifle, of which we were under threat of a beating we were not to touch, stood in a corner of the living room when he was off duty in readiness of the invasion to come.

Old and wrecked vehicles were placed in the fields around Moreton to prevent the fields being used as landing grounds for enemy gliders carrying troops. It seemed ironical that all that metal was lying around in fields when the government was cutting down iron gates and railings and collecting old pots and pans etc. to help the war effort.

One night a land mine landed on a row of houses in Chapalhill Road doing much damage and loss of life.

We had to carry gas masks with us where ever we went and on a few occasions I lost mine whilst playing on the way home from school and the village Bobby would usually return it to my home that evening. When my sister was born a special gas mask was delivered into which we placed the whole upper part of her body and she screamed like hell. It had a hand pump on the side, like that used nowadays to pump up a lilo, which we had to take turns at pumping to learn how to do it just in case anything happened to mum.

Galvanised buckets with a special lid were delivered to each house and we had to save all our vegetable peelings and old food for pig swill which was collected regularly.
We children had to help with dads allotment and feed the chickens, collect the eggs and clean the chicken house and dig the run over. All to make us as self sufficient as possible to help the war effort.

To prevent the Germans landing, six foot concrete pyramids were built along the embankment at Moreton shore which would also provide cover for defending soldiers.
A dozen of us kids could stop the whole German army from getting ashore by hiding behind them with our wooden tommy guns.

After the bombing stopped massive stores of equipment began to appear in areas like Arrow Park which we found out later was to supply the armed forces during the invasion of Europe and the defeat of the enemy.

Then came all our parent’s relief and joy at the war being won and the fun of the celebrations, street parties, games and bonfires that followed.

‘This story was submitted to the People’s War site by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Merseyside’s People’s War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his/ her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.’

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