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This story was submitted to the people war Website by a volunteer from Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life on behave Mrs D.C Folley

I was 7 when the war started. My father and brother were called up almost at the same time. You had to have someone living with you if you had a spare room. We had a lady plotter called Dorothy. My mother was very deaf so when the siren went a man used to come down with a big clothesprop and knock on the window to let her know. We used to go downstairs and sit in the cupboard under the stairs. I used to fall asleep and we would still be there the next morning. I used to lay in bed at night and listen to the Lancaster bombers. You could count how many were missing when they came back. My father was away for 3 years. He was a tank driver in the 8th Army Royal Armoured Corps. I remember him being demobbed, waiting for him to come back. He was still in his army uniform.

I used to hate gas mask practice in the playground at school. I can’t stand the smell of rubber even now. You used to put a piece of paper at the bottom and breathe it up to check whether it was working.

We used to listen to Lord Haw-Haw on the radio and he always said he was going to be crowned King of England at Lincoln Cathedral.

Mum bought black-out material and Dad put it on wooden frames. We used to make play tents out of these too — you got into trouble.

I was married when I was eighteen and there was still rationing. I had a ration book. You saved all your parings from apples and potatoes for someone up the road who had a pig. Once a year we got some offal.

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