大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Claire White of 大象传媒 Scotland on behalf of Lesley Gittins and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I remember going to air-raid shelters when German planes were trying to hit an ordnance depot in Staffordshire. If the Germans didn't find their target they'd drop their load anywhere so that the plane was lighter for the return journey to base. Acres Nook village, my home village in Staffordshire, sustained many strikes.

Conditions were awful in the shelter. The stench of children, urine, etc. was so awful that mother kept us indoors for many raids. We were squirrelled away downstairs with a fire and went to school as normal in the morning. In retrospect, that was a foolish thing to do.

I remember rationing of sweets and clothes and wearing clogs to school as a substitute for shoes. Clogs were actually very comfortable! I also remember gas mask exercises in school which were quite frightening. We followed the progress of the war via the radio but, as 11-year-olds, we were fairly ignorant about the history and geography of the places mentioned.

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