大象传媒

This information was written about 15 years ago for my son Richard who had to write an essay on the war for his homework. I have not finished typing all the details as they are hand written and it takes time to read and type. Anyway this is the story.

Dear Richard,

I understand from Auntie Annie that you have been asking questions about the last war, as you had to write a composition about it. Probably, by now, that composition will have gone in, but I thought I would write to tell you some of the thoughts and experiences we had, during the years 1938 - 1948.
Now I can imagine you saying straight away - Auntie Nancy's got it all wrong. The war was 1939 - 1945: and so it was, but we were aware for some time before 1939 that Adolf Hitler, the German leader (the word Fufrer means Leader, in German) wanted to make all the continent of Europe into one big German State. In fact some people, many people in many counties, felt that he was mad enough to try to be leader of the entire world. It is a strange thing that although the German people are most like us in looks and many other ways, part of their people has a very cruel streak and believes they are far better than anyone else especially the English. They also had an hatred of Jews and other coloured races, and their leaders wanted to keep the German race very pure and free from mixed blood marriages, your mum will this to you don't understand what I mean. They wanted to make the German race to be strong, fair haired, fair skinned, clever and disciplined race of people and were very unkind to the Jews and many of the people of Eastern Europe, many of the Germans who did not agree with what was going on. For instance the Jews, who are the race that the Lord Jesus belonged to, were treated very badly, they had to good jobs and leave their nice homes and friends and live in poorer parts of the cities. Then they made them wear a yellow patch on their sleeves, so that everyone knew they were Jews, and encouraged the other people to insult them, throw things at them, and be unkind even to their children. They were not allowed to buy at the same shops, and as time went on they started to be short of food and other things. Then they rounded up all the fit Jewish men up - and took them off in lorries and trains, in wagons like cattle trucks, to prisoner of war camps. Some were never heard of again. Then later on they started to take the women as well - those who were young enough to work had to work in camps, but the sick and old ones were no use, were also shut up in camps and killed off or neglected. Some of the things that happened are very cruel and when you are older you will be able to read more about it. Other races besides the Jews, some of the Dutch, Poles and many more Europeans had all these bad things to go through and there were thousands and thousands of people sent away and their families could never find out anything about them. We here at home in England could never really know what went on because we are an Island we have been protected by the sea. At first people would not believe, even if they heard a rumour that such things could be. In fact, it was only when "evacuees" started to arrive here, that the people in our country had any idea that everything was not going on as well on the continent as it was here, but we new nothing at all really - we ordinary people were really blind to the unhappiness of the people the Germans did not like. Some of those who managed to escape came here to England - some of them got work in the cotton mills in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the woollen mills - and other big towns all over the British Isles gave work and let them have homes, and some went on to America and Canada and made new homes there.
(Read Diary of Ann Franks)
In 1936 Hitler started to take more lands. He started by arming the Rhineland, part of Germany, which was not allowed to be done since the end of the First World War. There he went to Austria and Czechoslovakia and our British leaders started to get worried. In 1938 are country had a new King and Queen (our present Queen Mother) they had been on the Throne about a year, or a bit more and they were going on a trip to Canada and in those days you had to sail on a liner because aeroplanes were not so big and could not fly as far as they do now, they only made short trips. Our people were a bit worried. King George and Queen Elizabeth set off - we were wishing they were coming back instead of going, as we had started to be a bit doubtful about Hitler and his antics. However they went, and had a good trip and got back safely, and the Prime Minister Mr. Chamberlain went to Munich to meet Hitler and they made a peace pact and we all breathed a sigh of relief. At the back of our minds though we knew that sooner or later there would be trouble with Hitler, so we started to get ready. People started to make more ships, aeroplanes,
Guns and stock food and stores up. We were still hoping all these things were not going to be needed, but thought it better to be on the safe side. In the years 1929 - 1938, there was a big slump on, just as it is now and lots of people could not get jobs. I had a hard task to get into college1933. And when I passed out I was two years before I got a proper teaching post. My dad was a Joiner, and he was unemployed a lot of the time. He tramped miles looking for work, and because my mother had a little shop there was no unemployment pay. If one person in the family had a job - in the thirties, there was no "Dole" for any one else. You see we had no Social Security in those days.
There had been a Great War with the Germans before but after 4 years they decided to have peace called an Armistice - which lasted for 20 years but the Germans did not like it.

But when 1938 came and we started getting ready for a possible war all those unemployed people got work - my dad got a job at Risley - under the Admiralty - they built a Dry Land Navy Camp, to train sailors to do shore jobs and men how to be sailors and he worked there in the stores, mending chairs and doing woodwork jobs until he was 70 years old. Other people worked making shells and bombs in the munitions factories. This was a very dangerous job. Others went to the Aircraft works and made aeroplanes. The sewing factories gave over making pretty clothes and weaving smart cloths, and started to make Khaki uniforms for soldiers, navy blue for sailors and airforce blue for the RAF Shoemaker went on to army boots and shoes - every thing was geared for the war effort. And still we hoped.
Then in 1939 Mr. Hitler went into Poland. That was it! England and France had decided they would not stand any more nonsense and if Poland were attacked, they would back her up. The Germans were worried, but they took no notice. They thought we were only bluffing. But we were not. The people who were still free felt that if they kept on they would swallow up giving way to these evil Nazis - one by one all our countries and we should all end up in prison camps.
The British people are very long suffering - we can stand a lot, but when we get provoked, we get really mad - and when the Germans kept pulling our lions tail - at last the lion growled.
You must understand Richard that we did not want to have a war - but we felt we had to stop this madman and settle him once and for all, what ever it cost - we believed we were fighting for freedom, so that people could live their lives in peace and not be slaves to the Germans or anyone else.
When Hitler invaded Poland, Mr. Chamberlain resigned as P.M, he was very upset and in fact he did not live very long after, and Mr. Winston Churchill became the leader of our people. No one who did not live through the war could ever know how much we felt and owed to Mr. Churchill. Nowadays it is the fashion to poke fun and sneer, at the war leaders - but those who were there, then knew he was the best man for the job.
All the people joined together in backing him up and the best men in Parliament were chosen for the cabinet and it did not matter which party they belonged to - it was always the best man for each job.
I do not think the British people were ever as close together as they were during the war - we had a single aim and purpose - and that was to beat Hitler
Times became tough. At first for about six months after war was declared - things were not much different - we kept going to our work - food at first was much the same and then things started to get scarce and food was rationed. We all had a ration book, coloured ones for children and cream ones for grown ups. I used to go and help issue the rations books every year and you had to go to the same shop each week and the man took a little square ticket out of your book. There were no supermarkets then and the grocer man had to have regular customers so that he knew how much butter and margarine and sugar etc to get into his shop. He was rationed as well. We got as much butter per week as I put on my toast in the morning! I was very popular in the war, as I did not take sugar in my tea, but Auntie Annie liked hers sweet, So she had just one cup and had it, as she liked it. It was the same at the butchers, you got about 5 Pence worth in new money, about 1 Shilling a week in old money, and a little bit of corned beef. People started swapping recipes and we made a cake delicious that tasted like sawdust.
Then the Americans came to our Aid. They had not joined in the war yet, but their president thought we were doing a good deed. So he promised to lend us goods and we could them later and he sent us dried eggs in packets, like custard powder, and Spam and other things we had never eaten before. Later on they sent us ships and aeroplanes, but I am jumping to far ahead.
Another thing we did, Auntie Annie and I joined the Air Raid precautions. You see evey one could join up, some body had to stay at home to keep the home fires burning. The young fit men went into the forces, those who were lame or poorly took the jobs of the men who went into the forces. I wanted to be a WREN, Women's Royal Naval Service. I wanted to wear a Tricorn Hat and push little ships about on maps, like you see in the war films, but they would not let me go to war. - The women had to stay and keep teaching and we were called "Reserved" that was in a reserved occupation and I could not change to another job if I wanted to. I was a teacher and a teacher I had to remain! But one could do war work in ones spare time and you could be a Air Raid Warden or be in a First Aid Post - training for Air Raids. The men joined "Dads Army" - which we called the Home Guard - men who in their spare time guarded their own district, or the Special Police - your Grandad Westhead was one of those. As he was an Industrial Chemist he was 'Reserved' as well. Little Nanna went working in a bank, as Bank Clerks, as Bank Clerks had to go into the forces as well.
Well - Aunty Annie and I decided to go to First Aid classes and join and join the Air Raid Precautions. We had bandages 1" 2" 3" and we practised bandaging till we look like mummies! The street lights were put out and all the petrol was kept for doctors cars, fire engines and ambulances - so we walked or went by bus - there were very few cars on the road because they could not buy petrol. We did not like the black moon less nights - but on the other hand, moonlight nights often brought air raids - but if we wanted to have a special concert or gathering - we tried to find a moonlight night - so that people would come out. We had to sleep at Formby Hall one night a week, that being our head quarters. One year, we did Christmas Eve and New Years Night - because no one would change with us. There were three men and three women on at a time. We had a lot of fun, I must admit. I also did fire watching at Lee Street School. One night I slept with two men, Mr. Greenwood and the Minister. I went down in Baptist history as the only Deacon who had slept with the Minister. We also wrote to the men who were away. We had 4 men each, one of mine was Uncle Alf! And one was my cousin Fred.
Meanwhile, the war was progressing. In the spring of 1940, the British Army were helping the French and began to fight in northern France and Belgium. Belgium surrendered and then France gave up, and as many men as possible were fetched back from the beaches. All the spare ships and boats, big ones, very little ones went to the rescue. The river ferries went from Liverpool and the Isles of Man Ferries, Channel Ferries and small motor boats went from shore to the bigger boats, backwards and forwards day after day and rescued as many as they could. Of course some men were taken prisoner and sent to Germany and nearly all the equipment was lost., but it was a miracle that so many men got back to England. That was called the Retreat from Dunkirk. My cousin Fred Davis missed the last boat from Dunkirk, but got away from Calais having lost his rifle in the retreat. He picked up another one on the way back, he said the man he got it from did not require it anymore! After that Hitler knew he would have to conquer England before he could win the war. So he started bombing London and the South Coast. Then we were saved by the Air Force, The Battle of Britain as Churchill called it and he said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by some to so few" Can you work that one out?
I do not think you could understand how bored we got, we got at times, little news and life was a bit humdrum and a great shortage of men. Although in away we were fairly safe in the North of England. Down south were you live they could hear the guns in France and they got more Air Raids than we did and were much more in the front line. How ever we did have some raids and there was a night in April when we had two land mines, one near the Central Station and one on the Hagfold Estate. That one was a lucky hit, it dropped at the centre of the crossroads, so although there was damage it was not as bad as it could have been. But I once had a child of 14 in my class and she had been three years old when the land mine dropped and her body kept on growing but her brain never did, she always acted like a child of 3. It was very sad.

Aunty Annie and I also went on duty at the Report Centre, which had to be managed night and day, waiting for a "Red Alert". When this happened the person on duty had to ring round all the centres and warn the Police, Fire Brigades, Hospitals, Ambulance Stations and First Aid Posts that an Air Raid was expected. Then the sirens would wail up and down, to warn every body. When the danger had past they blew the "All Clear" which was a siren all on one steady note. No church bells had to be rung during the war, as if an enemy invaded that was to be the signal, to ring the bells violently. They never did ring for invaders, thank goodness, but on V.E. Day the bells rung for joy.
At the end of 1941 the Japanese invaded America at Pearl Harbour and brought the Americans into the war. We agreed to join together to defeat the Germans and Japanese and one nation not to surrender without the other. From then on we knew that, in the end we would win. It would be along time, but we knew we should beat Hitler, as of course we did. During the war we were a united nation, we tried to laugh at our problems, we have never had such a common purpose since. People helped one another, more neighbourly and in spite of shortages we were more content than people are today. Even when the war was over, things were still in short supply. I was married in 1949 and one of my wedding presents was 3lb icing sugar and another was 3lb of Currents, because I wanted a proper wedding cake. Although clothes rationing had supposedly come to an end, materials were still very scarce and you had to know someone who had been told by someone else that some place or other had some material. I got the moss crepe for my wedding dress from a Mill in Boothstown. Fortunately it was a colour I liked, Turquoise - rather green not blue and I had a little cap like Aunty Cath had.
In 1944 the allies landed in Normandy on D Day and it took another 11 months before the war in Europe was over. Uncle Alf landed on D Day (6Days after) and went right through Normandy to Germany where they set him to work in charge of a Sausage Factory to feed the German people! There you see Richard the difference between the English and the Germans, the Germans put their prisoners in Concentration Camps, we fed ours with sausages.
I think as Churchill said " This was our finest hour, we won the war and lost the peace. The Germans and the Japanese, all their factories were bombed and so they had to get back to work to start again, we sat back and left them, and they passed us bye.

Aunty Nancies Thoughts.

The war stole the best 10 years of my life, and probably the chance of having children. On the other hand I may never have met Alf, but for the war. Strange how things work out.
To sum up the British attitude in 1937.

"We like what we've got and well keep it.

To sum up the German attitude.

"We like what you have got and we will take it".

Regarding the Bombing of Hiroshima: No one new at the time what the effect of the new bomb would be. In any case we did not know until later what had been done, it had already been dropped before we were told. It was always like that in wartime. The newspapers could only print what they were told of the progress of war and we were all told not to talk about relatives movements. Before the Invasion in 1944 the men had no contact with their families, it was a well-guarded invasion. (Similarly with Dunkirk, we only new when it was over). Uncle Alf was sitting in a train, coming home for fitting out for the Far East when the bomb was dropped, it saved thousands of allied lives; at the cost of what?

Regarding the Mugging of old people that goes on today. If the young men of the RAF in 1940 had not won the Battle of Britain, these young thugs would not be free to go mugging their fiends. The young men that died aged 18 - 24 in 1940 would now be pensioners or nearing retiring age. It is dreadful to think of how their generation is being treated.

Regarding Concentration Camps: do not let anyone tell you it was not true, It was. Uncle Alf was in Dachau when the camp was discovered further up the road, so a few of them went along to see. They found out later even the medical team had not been in and they had to fumigate or something. He would never say much about it - they were all so shocked. No one who was there wanted to talk about it much.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.