大象传媒

David Moore 鈥� A Child鈥檚 View of WW2 (1939-1945)

I was five when my parents called us children in to the best room of the house to hear the declaration of war on the big wireless set. It was Sunday morning in September and we had been playing in the garden in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex close to the River Thames Estuary.

Soon there was a lot of activity by the armed services building protections against German landings. The placed pill boxes, barbed wire and concrete blocks all the way along the promenade of the sea front and beaches, anti aircraft balloons, and in the field at the back of our house there was metal scaffolding erected to stop gliders landing.

Our father joined the Royal Air Force soon after the war started and our uncle joined the infantry.

German bombers used to fly over Leigh on the way to London by day and night and they dropped bombs on Leigh on the way home if they had been unable to reach the city. We also saw many fighter battles in the sky.

We used to sleep in the Morrison air raid shelter, a big metal 鈥渃age鈥� which was our table at meal times. We never used the Anderson shelter in the garden 鈥� it was always full of water.

Everybody had a gas mask to wear even little children and we carried them everywhere, just in case. At first we had to have school teachers coming to give lessons in our house then when the school had brick shelters we went to school and would run to them when the siren told us an air raid was starting. The shelters were dark, cold and wet so we were pleased when the 鈥渁ll clear鈥� sounded.

In the street there were huge tanks of water for putting out fires. Sometimes children played in these and sadly some were drowned. Food, clothing and sweets were rationed. We were always hungry and our mother had to spend hours queuing for food. She would share out our butter etc for one week. We children watched closely to make sure we got our fair share. We often had arguments about the amount, especially when there was none left on Thursdays.

The loud crashing and banging of bombs and the anti aircraft guns near our house was frightening at night but we did get used to it after a while. Our cat hated it, and sometimes disgraced himself. It was a worrying time for our mother looking after the three of us with very little money but she did a very good job.

Air Raid Wardens used to go round the street after dark and shout out to any houses where the 鈥渂lack out鈥� was not good enough. We all wrote letters to our father who spent most of the war in India. I still have some of the letters, which he brought home in 1945. Several troop ships were torpedoed and sank on the way to India, by German U Boats.

We had to walk about two miles to North Street School. Many houses on the way were taken over by the army and we talked to the British, American and Canadian soldiers who were always joking and laughing. They gave us cap badges and spent ammunition. Also we were often collecting shrapnel and bits of bombs in the street some of it still too hot to pick up. The soldiers did training in the area.

Our house was never hit seriously but we had glass blown out and ceiling collapsed due to the blast. The nearest house to take a direct hit was about 400 yards away and the people were killed in it. We were surprised to suddenly find one day that all the soldiers had left the area. Soon after that we knew that they had landed in France on D-day to fight the German army. We then realised, that many of our friends might be killed or wounded. My uncle was wounded in Italy and he was unable to play football after the war.

We children always knew that Hitler would be beaten in the end so we had never been worried by the thought of the Germans invading. It was only when we were much older that we realised the worries that our mother and of course Mr Churchill the Prime Minister must have had.
It was only when we had children of our own that we realised what a terrible time our mother must have had with our father away and so much danger around all the time. She was always very brave and cheerful for us and for her sisters, always keeping us safe and fed.

Towards the end of the war, the danger came from German rockets, the noisy 鈥渄oodlebug鈥� and V2, which was silent until the bang. Quite a lot landed in the Thames Estuary area.

My mum saved coupons and money to buy me a new pair of trousers for the day my father finally came home from India. I went for a walk before we went to the railway station and somehow I tore a big piece of material from the rear on a section of barbed wire. My mum saw the funny side of that in the end but on reflection it must have been a big effort.

After VE day in May 1945 most of the barbed wire entanglements and concrete blocks set up in 1940 to stop possible German landings were cleared away and we could return to the beaches with our bucket and spades.

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