大象传媒

Over the years, my father had told me more stories about his life. My father would tell me about the 1914/1918 War, of the men that was returning wounded or had limbs missing. There were also hearing about gas attacks on the troops by the Germans.
My father had volunteered, with others, to return to the Royal Navy, but he was told that he would have to start at the bottom again, with his rank. He would have to take the rank of Second Class Stoker but he had replied " You must be mad, I have got 12 years experience". So he and others, who were experienced service men were placed in the Derby Group, and that was why he was now at Croydon Gas Works in Surrey.
My mother was put on to War Work and she would have to travel fom Croydon to Hayes in Middlesex, and she did shift work, she said that it was very hard going.
There were boys of 16 years of age joining up, by putting 2 extra years on their age.
At that time there were no wireless sets, but a few years earlier, the Royal Navy
had introducd wireless on to the warships. For years, the Navies of the World had been experimenting the building of submarines. They had gone on for years, but now they were to put it to use. These subs had travelled on the surface of the sea. They could also travel under the surface and not be seen. My father disagreed with this, because a Warship or a Merchant Ship had no chance against these Subs. The German Subs were called U-Boats. He said about the the Naval new ships, such as the Dreadnought, which had been brought into service before the War.

There was now a shortage of food in the corner shops, shortage of bread, meat and
fish. The women would queque for food. My father helped a greengrocer, when he was not at work. He would collect vegetables from farms and the Market gardens.
This Greengrocer also had some goats, which he had for their milk. The reason being that he suffered with a bad stomach, and the goats milk helped him with this problem.

My Uncle Charlie's son, Jack Beesley was with the Troop in France he was with the
Signall Corp. My grandfather Ellen, which was my mother's father was with the
Middlesex Regiment as a cook and he served in France, throughout the First World
War. I was told, by my father, about the Flying Corp, which is now the Royal Air
Force. These pilots, at that time, took their own lives in their hands.
Parachutes had not been thought about, these were the new machines of War. Later in the War, the German Zeppelins started to appear in the sky, and they would be
dropping bombs. Then the Flying Corp would try to shoot them down.

When the soldiers came home on leave, they would say very little about the War,
but when they had had a few beers and ended up drunk, then one would hear the horrors of the War. They spoke about on their way to the Front and that their graves had already been dug, for those that had got killed in action. My father had said of hearing of men that had been blown to pieces. There was also large numbers of Germans and British Prisoners-of-War. You would see the Telegram Boys on their red cycles or the postmen delivering the telegrams, to inform their loved ones that someone at the Front had been killed in the family.

The stories, at that time, were very horrible about the War, you could not
imagine the horror and the suffering. I was told about my grandfather being on leave and he would get drunk every day that he was on leave, but he would never tell you anything. The troops got plenty of rum to drink, when going over the top, as they called it. The shelling by the Germans and also the British and French guns. But the troops did say that the Generals were well to the rear, living in luxury, while the men were up to their knees in mud and water.

My father spoke about the Battleship H.M.S. Furious, she and two sister ships had been built to shell the German coast. The Furious was the first WarShip in the World to have 18 inch guns to shell the German coast.But when she opened fire, with those 18 inch guns, the gun mountain broke. When she was repaired, it did
the same. The two sister ships were H.M.S. Courageous and H.M.S. Glorious. All three of these ships, in later years, were made into Air Craft Carriers.

In 1917 when the Russian revolution was on by the Communists. The Tzar of Russia and all of his family were arrested, then the Russians surrendered to the Germans. Also the Americans entered the war in 1917. My father had said that London and other places were full of Americans. Soldiers from the British Empire had also fought along side of the British and the French Army, also troops from all parts of the World, that were under the control of the French Government. The Americans were fresh troops to have entered the War. My father said about the new weapon, the tanks.

I was born on 3 July 1918 and the First World War ended on 11 November 1918. When
the troops started to return, my father spoke of those men that had been gassed,
blinded or had limbs missing. The people were glad when they heard that the War had ended, but what did the serving men of the Services have to look forward to on their return. It was not a Land fit for heroes as they had been told. They had unemployment. The then Prime Minister, LLoyd George spoke about bringing in employment and sickness stamps.

Over my life, I have had the War drummed into me and as I got older, I began to understand about the War and the suffering and sacrifice that these men had gone through, to serve their Country.

My mother did not tell me very much about her early life, only that it was very hard in her younger days. She had to help her mother with cleaning the house and helping with the children. She also had to help look after her grandmother and grandfather. My mother's grandfather had been to sea in the Windjammers as a cook. When he finished serving with the sea and because of his age, he worked for Mortlake Council. His wife loved a drink of Port, she would also sell vegetables, which her husband grew, to enable her to buy the Port! My grandfather
cooked all of the food because his wife could not cook. But she worked in a laundry and when she left school, she was put into service as a maid. But she did not like that work so she left that and went to work in the laundry, the same as her mother did.

My mother first met my father, when he was a lodger, with her parents. He was working in the Malt House, making malt for the beer.A pub, named the Lord Napier, which opened for the drovers that brought the cattle to market. They would open early in the mornings and it was open to anyone to use it. So my father had his fair share of this.

My father and mother married in 1914, before the War had started. My mother was never one to talk about the past,and looking back on different things, I think she must have had a hard life, before she married my father.

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