大象传媒

When the war started I was 17 and very fond of dancing. I went to a dance where I met 2 airforce men, one of whom I danced with twice. Then we met the next evening and he had to walk 8 miles just to see me. He was posted 8 miles away at a dummy airfield . It was very dangerous as lights had to be put on and men were at risk of being bombed. He was posted all over the place.Finally he was posted abroad. I had no warning he was going, so we couldn't get married till he came back after the war. Meanwhile, I worked at Ransome Sims and Jefferies at Ipswich as a fitter - long hours and very hard work. We had very unreliable gas buses, so I cycled from Melton to Ipswich - about 10 miles. We had no speeds on the bicycles. It was just hard work. I started work about 7.30 am in the morning, and had very short tea breaks. There was nothing much to have - a bit of chocolate powder, not sweetened - it tasted awful, that was meant to be cocoa. My lunch consisted of war time bread with a bit of lettuce on. There was nothing else to have. We had about half an hour for lunch but only 10 minutes for breaks. Percy Edwards, the famous bird man, worked at the next bay to me. He used to entertain us with his impressions at lunch time. He signed a picture for me of a spaniel and one of birds with the date 1942. When at work we carried on when the sirens went off, unless they were overhead, and then they used to blow a whistle and we'd go to the brick shelters. One day we were in a shelter when a bomb was dropped on Pauls Granary at the Docks. Before the bomb was dropped a girl was singing 'Jerusalem'. When the lights went out all of us on one side were thrown on top of all the people on the other side, but the girl carried on singing. In my spare time several of us used to get together and hire the village hall, where some of the mums provided what they could for refreshments. The sandwiches consisted of ordinary bread and with our points we could get a tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce. We put this in a sandwich and then sold them for a penny halfpenny. We were very lucky to have an army band play for us, and the money we made went to the Red Cross POW fund. When I was working at Ransomes I had a call one day to say that the spot near my home had been bombed. It was just behind us and there was some damage to the house. A plate of my mother's which I hated was broken in half and I laughed. My mother was so annoyed, but I was pleased because I hated that plate. I got a clip round the ear for that. I lived with my mother and father. My father had retired but during the war he was a night watchman at Mann Egertons. There were lots of shortages during the war and I'm sure my mother went without so I could have things.One day it was flooded in Ipswich. I wore heavy duty shoes. I had to get home so I rolled all my clothes up to get through the water, took my shoes off and held them carefully on the handlebars of my bike. Unfortunately when I walked through the flood I dropped them before I got out of it.The years carried on until VE day. My husband was abroad still, but we celebrated this on Market Hill in Woodbridge. We all had a day off. My husband-to-be finally arrived at my house at 2am in November, a full 6 months after VE day, and at last we could make arrangements to get married. I have been a widow for twenty years.

'This story was submitted to the 'People's War' site by Linda Firth of the County Heritage Team on behalf of Joan Whitson and has been added to the site with her pernmission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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