大象传媒

"This story was told to Pam MacLaren and submitted to the People's War site by Nona Dougherty of the GMR Action Desk on behalf of David John Barry and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

I was eight when war started. I lived in Plymouth with my Mother and Grandparents and my baby brother. My Father was in the Royal Navy and was away for long periods of time, so I was the "man" of the family - eight going on eighteen!.

We were all doing out bit for the war effort - my Grandad with his allotment, my Mother was a conductress on the buses.

At school we had to collect newspapers for recycling so I volunteered for paper monitor responsible for collecting and sorting them. I sorted out the comics, so that I could read them and then sell them on! - the young entrepeneur!

I used to spend a lot of time up at the air raid warden's headquarters, running errands for them - you know, ciggies and bottles of beer etc - they lent me a tin helmet and I got myself a piece of wood and I ran about pretending to be a soldier. It was a big change to find that adults actually talked to little boys instead of me standing quietly by.

Plymouth was very badly bombed and I used to stand at the hill near my home and look down on the town and see the destruction. i saw the city flattened and the sky all lit up with the incendiary bombs.

On V.E. Day when I was founteen, I went to Plymouth Hoe with the crowds celebrating and hoping for a new life!

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