大象传媒

This story was submitted to the 大象传媒 WW2 People鈥檚 War site by Mrs M A Nallen of St Benedict鈥檚 Catholic High School on behalf of Jim, Hilary and Jean and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
People鈥檚 War- World war 2

The names of the people I interviewed on 13th of April 2005 were Jim, Hilary and Jean:
Q: When war broke out how old were you, where were you living?
A: (Jim) 鈥淚 was 19 living in Sunderland.鈥�
A: (Hilary) 鈥淚 was 17 living in Leamington.鈥�
A: (Jean) 鈥淚 was 15 living in Sheffield.鈥�

Q: Where were you when war broke out?
A: (Jim) 鈥淚 was on parade in the school playground. It didn鈥檛 come as much as a surprise because we knew war had been coming for a while. We had already been practising the air raid siren, and practiced lining up by the wall.鈥�

Q: What were you doing during the war?
A: (Jim) 鈥淚 was a drill hole man on a switchboard. The switchboards were huge, and difficult to man. On some nights I would stay up until midnight manning the thing. I joined the T.A. in 1939 in a mounted field artillery regiment. In 1940 I was a signals instructor. I did messages with flags, radio and Morse code. I also organised men to raise wire to send telephone messages.鈥�

Q: Were your houses ever bombed during the war?
A: (Jim) 鈥淢y mother鈥檚 house was blown up. The whole front of the house was destroyed. My father was very ill in back room when it happened.鈥�
(Hilary) 鈥淚 remember planes flying every night towards Coventry. Coventry was hit badly during the war. More locally, land mines fell in the fields at the end of the road. I remember when one hit my father was in the bath. The water was shaking, and he had no idea what was happening, it was hilarious.鈥�

What was social life like?
(Jim) 鈥淭here was no social life really. War was 90% boredom and 10% action.鈥�

What were the blackouts like?
(Jim) 鈥淧eople nowadays don鈥檛 realise how important the blackouts were. At night you couldn鈥檛 have a speck of light shining out of your windows. If you did then the drivers of the siren vans would come and rap on your window angrily.鈥�
(Hilary) 鈥淚 remember when I was out with my boyfriend at night at his house. Of course the only way of transport was bicycle. My boyfriend had to ride me back in the pitch black on his bike. There was no light at all so it was a relief when we returned to my house it was a big relief. Apart from the fact that my boyfriend still had to ride home with the planes circling above.鈥�

Did you fight in any famous battles?
(Jim) 鈥淚 fought in the battle of Allemaine in Egypt. The farthest I went for battles was the west of Africa, I also fought in Italy. I was in charge of anti tank sight to give protection to troops. Every time the troops advanced I would move the guns. It was funny because I started the war as a sergeant, and I finished it as a colour sergeant, exactly the same rank! I was awarded an Italy Star and an Africa Star for service in particular countries. I was also given an award for long service in the army, during the war.鈥�

What else did you do when fighting abroad?
(Jim) 鈥淚 remember a funny story in Italy. I was on a ship in the Mediterranean, asked to guard 1000bs of bombs I the cargo. On the Italian bridge the captain told me to hurry up. They went and I was left behind with the bombs, with a failed engine. I had to get the African coastguard to come and get me.

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