����ý

Peter was a part of a Suffolk family. He was nearly 13 years old at the outbreak of war. He took growing responsibility within his family and the community at large during the war years and just after his 17th birthday he volunteered for service in the Royal Armoured Corps. Peter has kindly agreed to abridged sections of his memoir being included in the People’s War website. After a varied professional career, Peter and his family have come to live in the Telford area and so we are including it in the ����ý Radio Shropshire Action Desk section of the website.

When Peter and his classmates recommenced the school year of 1939 (by mid-September) they had to spend every Wednesday morning doing their lessons whilst wearing their gasmasks and to carry out air-raid warning drill, running to their allotted shelter over an exposed playing field.

Peter had been appointed as a stretcher-bearer and, with Bernard Pumphrey, a classmate, he carried the stretchers and first-aid kit over to the shelters each morning during the school assembly; but they had to be back in the school hall in time to hear the Headmaster’s announcements. They had to return the kit and stretchers to the main school building at the end of each afternoon session. A few teachers allowed them to leave afternoon lessons slightly early to carry out this task, but most were not so considerate!

Direct quotation from Peter’s memoir: “At the beginning of the war each household that had a garden was issued with sufficient parts to make an air-raid shelter. These “Anderson” shelters were made from six curved sheets of corrugated iron with flat sheets making up the ends and blast screen. I dug the hole, approximately 6 feet square and four feet deep, and Dad helped to erect the shelter which was then covered with the soil that had been dug out. I dug steps down to the entrance and also built a blast wall in front of the opening using sand bags to support a bank of soil. We made two bunk beds from scrap wood and wire netting and hung a blanket in front of the entrance to try to keep out the worst of the weather. In order to reduce injuries from glass splinters we stuck gummed paper over all the windows of the house and we cleared out the bits and pieces from the little cupboard under the stairs and put a flock mattress in there in case we were unable to get out to the Anderson shelter in the garden.

Because of the difficulties caused by working in factories in total blackout conditions a “Daylight Saving” measure was introduced whereby the clocks remained forward one hour during winter and were advanced another hour for the summer (i.e. Double Summer Time.) Farmers would not accept this change and for most of the war farmers and their workers continued to set their clocks to the normal pre-war time pattern!

The blackout wasn’t the only change; the ringing of church bells and the sounding of factory hooters was banned “for the duration” as they were to be used as a warning if we were invaded by the enemy. Gas masks, in their little cardboard boxes and the newly issued identity cards, had to be carried by everyone at all times; whistles, previously used by the police to summon help, were to be used to warn of imminent danger and football style rattles were renamed “gas rattles” and were to be used by the police and Air Raid Wardens as the official warning of a gas attack. All road signs and mile posts were removed and names painted out of shop fronts etc., so that, if the enemy landed there would be no signs to help him. On the wireless the announcers started giving their names before each news time so that listeners would know if the wireless stations had fallen into enemy hands and no weather forecasts were broadcast for the duration of the war.

There were even changes at our weekly scout meetings. The Captain gave each of our Patrol Leaders practice in leading the troop so that we could carry on without him should he be called up for National Service.

In order to fool the enemy into thinking that we were better prepared than we really were, dummy lorries, tanks, aircraft and barrage balloons made of wood and canvas were placed around the countryside and, just outside Ipswich, a dummy factory of wood and canvas was erected to try and draw the German bombers away from the town. Real barrage balloons were positioned in the area of the docks as well as around the town and mobile anti-aircraft and searchlight units were stationed in neighbouring villages to supplement the barrage which had been installed at Felixstowe and Harwich. All large factories and buildings of strategic importance were painted with black, green and brown camouflage paint to break up their outlines, although nothing could be done to camouflage the outline of the River Orwell which we believed acted as a beacon for German planes on moonlit nights. Important and historic buildings were protected with walls made up of sandbags and the contents of museums and art galleries were stored underground wherever possible.

In May 1940 it was decided that a German invasion of Britain was imminent and all children and expectant mothers were to be evacuated from a ten-mile strip in East Anglia, the area where enemy troop landings were expected. The whole of the coastal strip was a “no-go” area and remained that way throughout the war; Dad had to have a special pass to go to the maltings at Felixstowe to carry out maintenance work and the sea-plane base at Felixstowe Docks became a base for high speed motor torpedo “E” Boats. The beaches were mined, tank traps and barricades were installed everywhere and concrete “pill-boxes” were built for use by the Home Guard and defending infantry.

Mum and a handful of other mothers decided that they would join the evacuation party (she also agreed to look after one of my Brother Alan’s friends, Ray Cubitt, as well as her own three children.) She made us each a haversack to carry a change of clothing and, with our gas masks slung over our shoulders and a large label pinned to our coats, we set off after an early breakfast, for Ipswich Railway Station. There were hundreds of children, teachers, expectant mothers and parents milling around on what is now the station car park. Teachers tried to collect children from their own schools and, eventually the train carriages were filed to overflowing. No one knew where we were going and all that we were told was that we were being taken to a place of safety. It was impossible to know where we were because of the absence of signs and place names, but finally, at the end of the afternoon we were told that we had arrived and were later told that we were in Leicester. We were taken in buses to the de Montford Hall where we were welcomed by the Mayor and given a cup of tea and a sandwich.

After a short while we were again taken in buses to a cinema and we boys thought that we were going to see a film, but no such luck! We were there in the warm and dry in case we had to stay there all night! Billeting officers from the local authority were obviously busy going around allocating the evacuees to the people of Leicester who had started to come in to the cinema to collect one, two or three children to take back to their homes.

Time went by and there were fewer and fewer of us left but obviously no-one was prepared to take on a mother and four boys. Eventually, at about 8.00 pm we realised that a man and a woman were standing at the end of the row and looking at us and we were relieved when they asked us if we would like to spend the night at their house. They were very kind to us, giving us a drink and something to eat in spite of the meagre food ration, and we all managed to sleep somehow in one bedroom.” (The family was then moved to Thurmaston, a village in Leicestershire: Before making their way back to Suffolk sometime after.)

This story was collected by Jill Hollands and submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh, both of the ����ý Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk. The story was very kindly shared with us by Peter Williams and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Williams fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Read more of Peter's story:

• Excerpts from “A memoir” by Peter Williams. Part Two: "War Service"

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.