大象传媒

On Radio 4 you asked for reminiscences of the DD build up.

I was born in 1938 so started school during the war in 1943. I lived with my mum (Dad was in the Royal Artillery in India and Burma) in what was then a very rural area on the edge of the village of Danbury mid-way between Chelmsford and Maldon.
Further down our lane (Riffhams Lane) there was a large farm, Great Graces. At some point a prisoner of war camp was established there for Italian prisoners, who were sent out to work on local farms. In our lane there were only two boys, Brian Eaton and myself - both the same age. We were, not surprisingly, inseperable 'mates' who did everything and went everywhere together. In those days parental control/awareness was at a minimum (both our Mums worked) and dangers, apart from the war itself, were unheard of. So we spent our days roaming the countryside and getting up to the usual boyhood games and mischief, building dens, climbing trees, scrumping apples, nearly drowning ourselves in the lake or river when fishing or attempting to learn to swim.
When we discovered the Italians it was a major breakthrough. They had this fantastic meal they did for their lunch and snacks, mashed potato sandwiches! Our Mum's wouldn't make them so we used to break into the POW camp and get fed by the prisoners. One of them, Guido, carved a miniature spitfire from a piece of Perspex from a crashed aircraft, which I still have.
At some point the Italians disappeared and were replaced by an American Tank Unit. Unbeknown to us and most of the rest of the world, this was part of the DD build up.
Brian and I continued our forays into the camp but now the mashed potato sandwiches were replaced by Hershey bars, chewing gum and Coca Cola. When it got a bit late the 'Yanks' took us home on one of the tanks - great fun standing up in the turret crashing along a narrow lane at what seemed breakneck speed. Then one day all the tanks came down the lane together and we never saw them again.
At about this time I also recall wave upon wave of allied aircraft flying overhead towards the continent - but I could be confusing this with the 1,000 bomber raids on Germany.
I enjoyed the war and was rather sad when it all ended but Dad came home from Malaya (he had ended up guarding Jap prisoners) Brians Dad came home from North Africa where he had been a motor cycle dispatch rider in the RMP and things returned to what we assumed was normal - being 'war babies' we had no idea of what normal was.
Now aged 67 I am a Bursar (having been a serviceman for over 30 years in the RN and RAF) and Brian still flies helicopters off the north coast of Australia where he immigrated some 35 years ago after service in the RM (45 Commandos).

An after thought - I guess those Americans gave us a lift home on their tanks so that they could chat up our mums - just a thought!

Hope this is of interest.

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