大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Gloucestershire on behalf of Ralph Pepper with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

The big day for me was the day after war was declared in 1939, because it was my 11th birthday. At the time I was living in Army barracks in Blackdown in Hampshire, and we had been ordered out of the married quarters because they wanted them for the troops, so we went to live with my Grandmother in South Wales.

This was a happy time for me because it was by the sea and it was here that my vivid memories are.

I can remember that just after the fall of Dunkirk a lot of solders were sent to the barracks at Pembrook Dock and I went to ask them who they thought was going to win the war. They were really tired and I was quite frightened when they said 鈥淛erry鈥�

Not too long after this the bombings started and the first ones that dropped in the area were hit and miss affairs. There were two unexploded bombs just up the road from where we lived, and we went up to go and have a look.

There were dead cattle everywhere and we found where the unexploded bombs were. In those early days there were no real air raid precautions, except for a bit of barbed wire around where they had entered the ground.

This was no obstacle for us, so we went home to get our shovels with the intention of digging the bombs up.

It was hard work as the ground was dry so we gave up!

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