大象传媒

I started school at Easter in 1934 just before my 6th birthday. Reading and writing were the first things taught and reading came easily. This skill was made full use of in reading the 鈥楧aily Dispatch鈥� which came by post every day at a cost of one penny for the paper and another for the portage.

It was not long before major news items in the newspaper spoke of 鈥榃ar鈥� which meant little to a child of around 8 years of age. 鈥榃ar鈥� of course meant fighting, but the only fighting which a child could envisage was of a crowd of men flinging their fists about. In the mid 1930鈥檚 of course a good number of adults would recollect the 1914-18 war 鈥� some having been actively involved in it. Overhearing such conversations among these people would add to a child鈥檚 knowledge as well as listening to the wireless. The first war to be recollected was the invasion of Abyssinia by the Italians in 1935/36. This aroused much sympathy for the natives (as they were then called) but Mussolini came in for considerable derision. During school playtimes children would form a rough line and march around the playground singing 鈥淲ill you come to Abyssinia, will you come, bring your own ammunition and your gun, Mussolini will be there shooting peanuts in the air, will you come to Abyssinia will you come?鈥� This was sung to the tune of 鈥淩oll along covered wagon, roll along鈥�.

The next fighting to be reported in the Daily Dispatch was the Spanish Civil War of 1937-39. Listening to the conversation of adults one day it seemed that the country and France would be left to support the Government, who were apparently losing the contest, whilst Germany and Italy would support the insurrection which of course they did successfully.

The next period of tension came in 1938, the so-called Munich crisis. This is easily remembered, as the serious news from daily papers and wireless coincided with the fitting of a new floor in the farmhouse kitchen/living room 鈥� a major upheaval which meant meals were taken in the sitting room 鈥� an unheard of thing! About this same time air raid wardens were appointed. Very often such wardens were ex-servicemen of the 1914-18 War. Our warden, Tom, was ex-army and proudly claimed to still have a lump of German shrapnel in his head. Two or three fittings were required until all the family were satisfied with their masks.

Mr Chamberlain鈥檚 visits to Germany complete with neatly rolled 鈥榞amp鈥� produced a popular song of the day 鈥淭he Umbrella Man鈥� which enjoyed considerable success alongside songs such as 鈥淚t鈥檚 a Lovely Day Tomorrow鈥�.

Most people believed that wartime conditions would mean food shortages. My mother therefore started something she called 鈥榤y store cupboard鈥�. This contained tea, sugar and various tinned foods which were bought at the rate of a little extra each week during 1938 and 鈥�39.

Our help on the farm at this time (1937-39) was Bob who was a fully trained soldier, having served several years in the Royal Horse Artillery. He was therefore a reservist and subject to call-up if hostilities commenced, and sure enough this call came. It was to be February 1945 before he returned to farm work. Black headlines in the newspapers and frequent news bulletins heralded the Prime Minister鈥檚 broadcast at 11.15am on September 3rd 1939 which I well remember hearing. With the loss of Bob to the army, my father was now working single-handed on the farm, in effect doing the work normally done by two men. Early in September 1939 I started what was to be my last year at Primary School.

Back at school for the autumn term of 1939 air raid precautions (ARP) came to the fore. Gas masks had always to be carried and, added to midday sandwiches, a small bottle of milk and a couple of homework books, made quite a load to be carried over a mile and a quarter of mixed farmland. ARP drills at school consisted of the head teacher blowing a whistle and pupils putting on their gas masks and walking steadily outside to the playground and awaiting further instructions. Fortunately it never happened for real.

Bob came home on leave for a week in March (1940) having withstood the rigours of a very cold French winter. The war proper seemed to start in early April with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway which began on April 9th. Place names in those two countries came into general use. Among them were those watery channels separating the two above mentioned countries the Skaggerack and Kattegat as well as the Norwegian towns of Oslo, Trondeim, Christiansund and of course Narvik with its naval battles there.

The radio, mostly referred to as wireless, was the great bringer of news as well as the entertainment and it was noticeable that during the 1939/40 winter a number of what would now be called 鈥榩op鈥� songs with a distinctly wartime flavour became popular. They included the inevitable 鈥淗ang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line鈥� to the hopeful 鈥淐oming in on a Wing and a Prayer鈥� and thence to the rather romantic 鈥淪ilver Wings in the Moonlight鈥�.

To get to the school by 9am it was advisable to leave home about 8.20-8.30am, getting up a bit before 8 and therefore able to listen to most of the eight o鈥檆lock news before starting. This news on Friday 10th May brought news of the German attack on the Low Countries and Luxembourg.

Evening news bulletins on this 10th of May were full of news from the battle fronts and I can well recollect the expression used by the news reader 鈥� 鈥淒utch and Belgians are fighting hard鈥� also it seemed that 70 enemy aircraft had been destroyed 鈥� we didn鈥檛 realise they鈥檇 got that many altogether! Also we had a new Prime Minister 鈥� a Mr Churchill.

On the 14th of May an appeal went out from Mr Eden for a body of men to be known as 鈥楲ocal Defence Volunteers鈥� LDV or as someone said 鈥擫ook, Duck and Vanish. Some three or four local farmers armed with shotguns went on duty at the Valve House (about a couple of miles from Ellesmere and carrying the water supply to Liverpool) to guard against German paratroops. Fortunately (again) for the redoubtable farmers, the enemy never came.

Within a few days of the German attack it was obvious a serious situation was developing and thick black headlines began to appear in the daily papers. At school it was possible to get a glimpse of the teacher鈥檚 Daily Mail at dinner time. There were reports of a bulge in the allied line near Sedan. Arras, Amiens and Abbeville were in the news. Talk among adults frequently included the phrase 鈥渂acks to the wall鈥�. I had just got home from school one day in early June when there was a phone call 鈥� it was Bob. 鈥淚鈥檓 at Gobowen Station, can someone fetch me, I鈥檝e just come from Dunkirk鈥�- I suppose Bob was fetched but oddly enough I can鈥檛 remember anything about it.

Shortly afterwards Italy came into the War against us but this did not seem to bother anyone very much. A local smallholder coming into his hayfield and being told of escalation in fighting merely said, 鈥淪o them buggers have come in now have they鈥�, and that was all that was said by any of the harvesters present.

A direct change effected on farming due to the outbreak of war was the 鈥榩loughing up鈥� campaign 鈥� this to grow grain (mainly wheat) for human consumption rather than grass in the form of grazing or hay for animal feed. The first few fields went under the plough in the autumn of 1939 but it was a year later that the campaign got properly underway. I well remember in late August/early September walking over a 5 acre field of furrows to feed some young cattle on a field beyond. Grass was creeping between these furrows and would do so until the field was cultivated and sown to wheat in October (1940).

I started at Grammar School at Whitchurch about mid-September, this meant a 3 mile bike ride to Ellesmere to catch the 8.40am train. Unfortunately the homecoming train at about 4pm had been cancelled as a war time economy measure and this produced all sorts of problems as the next train was not until 6.50pm, and then frequently late due to troop trains hurtling through Whitchurch station.

The winter of 1940-41 brought air raids to Liverpool, which could be seen in North Wales and Shropshire. Living in a three-storeyed house it was possible to see flashes of light which, so the experts said, were exploding bombs and sparks in the sky which it was believed were anti-aircraft shells exploding. About this time, a rumour circulated locally that an AA gun was to be sited in some nearby woodland. This proved to be incorrect, although a searchlight squad (three lights and a twin Lewis gun) was established at an adjoining farm shortly afterwards. The main advantage was that when the searchlights were on, no lights were needed on one鈥檚 bicycle for two or three miles around. The soldiers (and one airman) who manned the above unit must have been a musical lot for they, with a bit of local help, were capable of putting a decent variety concert together, in fact I still have a programme thereof.

Inevitably, a few bombs were dropped locally. One or two land mines, more properly described as parachute mines, descended just outside Welshampton and made an awful lot of noise. An apparent ordinary bomb fell in some cleared woodland at Hampton Wood and I well recollect walking, one Christmas morning, to see the damage caused although I am not sure if it was Christmas 1940 or 鈥�41. Another bomb fell in a field just bordering the Ellesmere-Overton road, the only casualty being a horse killed by blast as the carcase bore no external injuries. My grandfather who lived on Grange Road, walked to the scene and was, on his return, soundly admonished by my grandmother for 鈥榳andering off鈥� as she called it, without saying where he was going. He was 85 years of age at the time but lived to see the end of the war.

During my first year at the Grammar school at Whitchurch, I partook of school dinners, which cost nine pence each. I recollect one dinner time in May 1941, when the Headmaster came in while we were eating. Everyone fell silent wondering what he wanted. 鈥業 thought you鈥檇 like to know,鈥� he said, 鈥榳e鈥檝e just heard, the Bismarck鈥檚 been sunk鈥�. He turned around and walked out and normal conversation resumed. As the war continued, more and more shortages became apparent; a new school blazer required in 1941 could not be obtained, so one from another school had to be adapted by removing the old pocket badge and sewing it onto the new blazer.

Shortly after the Japanese entry into the war, boxing was introduced into school activities (for one year only). Our ex-service PT instructor insinuated that this was something to do with 鈥榬unning away from the Japs鈥�, as he called it 鈥� so 鈥� get those boxing gloves on!

Probably the most sobering moment I had during my Whitchurch school days was listening to a conversation in a railway carriage between some two or three men concerning the war situation. One of them voiced the opinion that he could see no way in which hostilities could ever end, such was the strong enemy position at that time (1941 or 鈥�42). Being fairly well informed myself via wireless and a (very small) daily newspaper, I had to agree that he was quite right. I left school in 1943 to work on the farm - a seven day week, no tractor, no electricity, a bicycle as personal transport. By this time, military activity in Shropshire and nearby was by American forces with local hospitals, staff from which would very nearly fill the streets of Ellesmere and provide lengthy queues to the then Town Hall Cinema. After the Normandy invasion in 1944 it was common to see long lines of US ambulances making their steady way to the two American hospitals at Penley, the 83rd and 129th. The muddy boots of the casualties could be clearly seen through the vehicles rear windows. The site of the 83rd hospital (on which I currently live) was situated on top of a minor bank above a stream. Thunderbolt fighter planes, probably stationed at Atcham, occasionally flew up this valley, their pilots waving to patients and staff at the hospital. During December 1944 and January 1945 a lot of patients were admitted to hospital suffering from various forms of frost bite due to the very cold continental weather. As the weather warmed up in early April large numbers of convalescent US servicemen could be seen walking the country lanes clad in pyjamas and maroon coloured dressing gowns.

As the war drew to its inevitable conclusion in early May of 1945 one of the major causes of concern was the availability of beer in the local pubs when peace was eventually declared. It came on May 8, 1945 鈥� a rather dull drab day of cloud and threat of rain. I well remember fetching a freshly charged 鈥榳et鈥� wireless battery from a nearby farm where home made electricity was used for this purpose. On the way I passed a field where potatoes were being planted 鈥� an insurance against further food shortages to come, for bread, having been unrationed for the full length of both wars (European and Far Eastern) was put 鈥榦n the ration鈥� in 1946.

The period between the ending of hostilities in Europe and the Far East seems a murky period in one鈥檚 memory and the sudden end which came to the Pacific War was something of an anticlimax. The Japanese (so one daily paper proclaimed) had been defeated by 鈥榯he power of the sun鈥�, a reference no doubt to the nuclear properties of the last explosive device to be used in the Second World War.

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