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Introduction

This article is written on behalf of Mrs Frances McAlone (nĂŠe McGuinness) of Whitehaven, Cumbria. At the outbreak of World War Two Frances was ten years old and was the eldest of five siblings. Her parents were Patrick and Hilda McGuinness.

Frances had a number of close relatives in the army during the war, including her father Sergeant Pat McGuinness. Pat was killed in action in Italy in July 1944.

Family and wartime life in Whitehaven

"My name is Frances McAlone. I have been married to my husband Bill for over fifty years now. My parents were Pat and Hilda McGuinness. I am the eldest of the five children they had. I was born on 29 January 1929 so I was ten years old when war broke out in September 1939.

I had two younger brothers and two younger sisters. My sisters’ names were Patsy and Pauline. My brothers were called Jack and Danny. We lived at number 81 Fell View Avenue, Woodhouse, Whitehaven. We had moved in a few years before when it was first built. It was a really nice house.

Just before the war, my Dad worked at the Docks down in Whitehaven. At that time my mother more or less looked after all of us children, and looked after the house. She had her hands full with that. She used to do all of the cooking.

I was at school while most of the war was on. When war broke out I was at St Mary's RC Junior School at Kells. Some of the teachers who taught me there were at the school for years afterwards and went on to teach my own children. Among the teachers were Miss Lily Hornsby, Miss Mulholland, Sister Hermengild and Miss Patty Fitzsimmons.

After St Mary’s, I went to St Begh's Girls School on Coach Road. I left school at fourteen as most people did in those days. I went to work at Edgard's. It was a fairly new factory on Preston Street, Newtown, Whitehaven, just below 'The Brows'. It was just about then, in 1943, that there was a plane crash at the top of 'The Brows' at Arrowthwaite, Kells. The job was arranged for me a few weeks before I left school.

At Edgard's I was hand-sewing uniforms and I also worked on a press for a while. Edgard's made battle dress uniforms, RAF clothing, and leather jerkins. Among the people I worked with were Doris Burns, Jean McCarthy, 'Dot' or 'Dolly' McSherry and a slightly older lady called Mrs Casson. We were related to Mrs Mary Ellen Casson, but this was a different Mrs Casson.

At the factory they were great believers in 'Music while you work' to help morale and production. There was lots of singing. Among the singers I remember on the radio were Monty Ray, Vera Lynn and Anne Shelton. There were also a lot of comedians on the radio to make people laugh.

When we used to go to one of the cinemas we used to be queuing six deep. Sometimes from the factory we used to save a place in the queue for another one of us. That way we all got in and could sit together. Among the films I remember from then were 'Casablanca' and 'Gone With The Wind'. Other times we would go down to the harbour for a walk. We had relatives who lived on West Strand next to the harbour.

My father was one of the first men to be called up

I've got some things written down about my father in the army. Before the war, my father Pat McGuinness, other members of our family and some of his friends were in the Territorial Army. They went away on camp every year. He was in the 5th Battalion Border Regiment. That meant my Dad was one of the first men from Woodhouse to be called up as soon as war was declared. Another one I remember went right away was Adam Raby,

He was then sent away to France and was involved in the Dunkirk evacuation. He came back home on leave for a while after that, along with some of the others that had escaped from Dunkirk. I can remember he brought back a sewing machine from Dunkirk, along with threads and some other things. He'd put them in his pack and carried them back during the evacuation.

The French people had asked him to try and take something away so the Germans didn't get hold of them! He said he was going to take them back to them after the war. So he likely knew where it had come from. Of course, as he got killed later on the war, the sewing machine never went back. It was still in the family until a few years ago. Then a fellow called Frank Lewthwaite was asked if he wanted the sewing machine for one of the local museums. He used to work at Edgard's. I don't know if it's in 'The Beacon' at Whitehaven or the Haig Mining Museum.

Others who went to war

As well as my Dad, we had other relatives who went away to war. We used to pray for all our relatives away in the army. My cousin Hugh McGuinness was in the Territorial Army with my Dad and he went away with the 5th Border Regiment when war was declared. It was Hugh McGuinness' family who lived at West Strand down by Whitehaven harbour. Later on he was taken prisoner at Arnhem and had a hard time as a POW of the Germans.

I have a few things written down about my Dad's brother James McGuinness so I can tell you about him. Like my Dad, Jim as he was known, had been in the Territorial Army before the war and played the cornet in the Battalion band. He'd also been in the Border Regiment Regular Army for a while but had left before the war and was working at Haig Pit when war broke out.

Although he was in a Reserved Occupation Jim managed to leave the coalmines in 1943. He was then called up to the Army. Eventually Jim got a 'red beret' as a paratrooper and won the Military Medal serving with the parachute regiment in Normandy. His unit captured the Merville Battery.

My mother was also related to Mrs Mary Casson who also lived with her husband David and her family at Woodhouse. They lived at 75 Fleswick Avenue, Woodhouse. She had five sons who went away in the army during the war and two of them were killed, Robert and Joseph. So we knew a lot of men who went away from Whitehaven to fight in the war. Everybody knew somebody who was away.

The letter home

My Dad went overseas again after Dunkirk. He used to write back home to my Mam at least once a week, and he also kept a journal. Of course, all the letters were censored and usually he couldn't put down where he was. However, he had a secret code that he could write to my Mam so she would know where he really was at any time. I think at different times after Dunkirk he was in Egypt, Palestine (as it was known then), and eventually Italy. I can remember he sometimes used to send little things back home to my Mam. She placed these around the house and I can remember some things from the Holy Land but we don’t have any of them now.

My mother used to keep all the letters in a box and read them over. Sometimes, when we were children, you would come into the living room and Mam would be reading one of Dad’s letters. Then when we came in she would fold it up and put it back in the box. It was mainly just between the two of them. All the letters had been censored of course.

Unfortunately, because we were children I suppose we weren't really all that interested in Dad’s letters at the time. My mother kept all these letters, and a journal my Dad had kept, in a box until she died. Some time later nearly all of the letters, photographs and journal were burned. I have hardly any photographs of my Dad. If we still had the letters and the journal it would let us know a lot about what he did during the war.

I have one photograph of my Dad and one letter he wrote. That seems to be all that I have. Both the letter and photograph are from February 1944. He sent the photograph back home to Whitehaven on 3 February 1944. It shows him while on leave in Nathania, (Netanya) Palestine as it was then. My Dad sent the letter to his nephew Hugh McGuinness on 17 February 1944. The letter is mostly about his two weeks leave in the Holy Land. Hugh was back in Britain then, waiting to go overseas.

My father in Italy

While he was in the army during the war, my Dad got transferred from the Border Regiment to a Tank Regiment and also went for promotion. This was so he could get a little bit more money. He went to the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars in the Royal Armoured Corps.

I know from the letter and photograph I have that my Dad was in Egypt and Palestine in early 1944. They then must have gone to Italy. It was there that my Dad was killed on 17 July 1944. I don’t know exactly where he was killed, but he is now buried in Ancona War Cemetery on the Italian Adriatic coast.

I was at work when my mother received the telegram telling her my Dad had been killed, so they sent for me. When you received word that one of your close relatives had been killed like that they let you go home straight away. Everybody in the house was crying and there wasn’t a lot to say.

Some of the neighbours and our relations were in the house with my mother comforting her. I think the first one I saw when I got to our house was the Mrs Casson who was related to my Mam. She had just had two of her sons killed in the war a few weeks earlier (Robert and Joseph). She would know what it felt like to get a telegram like that.

Shortly afterwards, my mother got a letter from my Dad’s Commanding Officer explaining how he was killed. They had captured a hill from the Germans somewhere in Italy. My Dad was then doing reconnaissance on foot when he got shot from the flank by a hidden German machine gun. We don’t know exactly where this was at because they couldn’t tell you at the time. As we no longer have the letter we don’t know now the name of his Commanding Officer. However, after the war, we found out Dad had been reburied at this cemetery in Ancona.

I don’t think I’ve seen ‘The Whitehaven News’ article about my Dad until today. We didn’t usually get a newspaper during the war. One of the reporters must have got the story from my Mam. I can remember the photograph they’ve used of my Dad being around the house. The newspaper article also mentions the letter my mother received from the Commanding Officer.

Visiting my Dad’s grave

My mother was never able to visit my Dad’s grave in Italy. However, when she died she wanted his name on her headstone. She was buried in Whitehaven Cemetery so we remember my father there as well. I usually go to the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehaven with my husband Bill and we remember my Dad there.

However, we have been once to my Dad’s grave in Italy, some years ago. I was on holiday with my husband Bill at Cattolica, which was a lovely place. One of the days most of the people in our party went on a coach trip somewhere but we decided to visit the War Cemetery at Ancona.

Although neither of us speak Italian, we got directions in Cattolica how to get to the cemetery. We had to take a train and then a bus to Ancona. We asked directions to the War Cemetery again and that was how he met this nice Italian gentleman. He’d been an Italian Prisoner of War in Britain and was in a POW camp near Newcastle. He said he’d liked the ‘Geordies’ so much after he returned to Italy after the war, he became a long-distance lorry driver so he could come back to Britain and especially Newcastle!

Then he not only gave us directions to the cemetery, but he actually came on the bus with us and paid for our fares. He knew we were going to visit my father’s grave. Although we don’t know his name, had never met him before or seen him since, it was a kindness towards strangers that we have never forgotten. He said to us that there are no winners in war.

Near the cemetery we went to a florist to buy flowers. We couldn’t speak Italian but they must have known why we were buying flowers. When the florist gave us the flowers for the grave, she gave me an extra flower, a rose, and said “Madame, for you!” We placed the flowers on my father’s grave. The cemetery was really well tended. The whole visit was a very moving experience and the Italian people so generous and kind.

POW

Later in 1944 my cousin Hugh McGuinness took part in the Arnhem operation. By then Hugh was in the 1st Battalion Border Regiment. To start with he was reported ‘Missing in Action’ so we didn’t know what had happened to him. Some of us went down to see his mother and all we could really do was pray. At that time we didn’t know whether he was alive or dead.

Eventually news came through that Hugh was a Prisoner of War. But at least he was alive. He was only a prisoner for a short while but it seemed such a long time. He had a hard time as a POW in Germany. Eventually he came back home and said how bad things had been for them.

VE Day and afterwards

I think when VE Day was announced on the radio it was in the evening and I was sitting at home sewing. We all heard music on coming from Fleswick Avenue behind our house. I ran out of the house with my brothers and sisters and we saw everyone marching and singing. We went down the hill to Greenbank. One of the others in the crowd was Bill, my future husband. He was a miner in the war and had been in the Home Guard.

What we were all cheering for was that the war was over. Even though all the children had ran out to take part in the singing and marching, my mother stayed in the house. When I got back home we found her sitting quietly in the chair on her own. She said, “Let’s put a cup of tea on”.

Looking back it must have been an emotional time for my mother as my Dad was not coming back. After the war my mother took on different jobs, including working full-time as a caretaker at St Mary’s school.

My mother got my Dad’s medals but they were never put on display. She put them in a drawer but eventually gave them to one of her grandsons. I have never seen my Dad’s medals. It would have been nice to have seen the medals, even if only the once”.

Additional information
(a) Commonwealth War Graves Commission Citation:
“In Memory of
Serjeant PATRICK McGUINNESS

3593603, 7th Queen's Own Hussars, Royal Armoured Corps
who died age 38
on 17 July 1944
Son of John Henry and Catherine McGuinness, of Whitehaven, Cumberland; husband of Hilda McGuinness, of Whitehaven.
Remembered with honour
ANCONA WAR CEMETERY
Commemorated in perpetuity by
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission"
[Grave reference: Plot No IV. H. 19]

(b) "The Whitehaven News" extract, Thursday 10 August 1944 (p.3):
"WHITEHAVEN FOOTBALLER
Killed in Italy
A former member of the Whitehaven Borough Band and a well-known Soccer player, Sergt. "Pat" McGuinness, of Fell View Avenue, Woodhouse, Whitehaven, has been killed in action in Italy. Aged 38, Sergt. McGuinness at one time served with the 5th Borders, and before the war was employed on the Whitehaven docks and by the Empress Ballroom Ltd. A keen athlete, he played Soccer for Cleator Moor Celtic, Whitehaven Athletic and Kells.
In a letter to his widow, Sergt. McGuinness' Commanding Officer states that his Regiment had captured a hill and Sergt. McGuinness was doing reconnaissance on foot when he was killed by machine-gun fire from a flank. He is survived by his wife and five children, three girls and two boys, the eldest of whom is 15."

Conclusion

I would like to thank ‘The Whitehaven News” for permission to quote the newspaper article. This was consulted at the Cumbria County Archives office in Whitehaven.

The full name of Frances’ father was Patrick Joseph McGuinness. The CWGC citation just gives one forename in Pat’s case. However, a World War Two Memorial at the rear of St Begh’s Church, Whitehaven gives Pat’s full name.

I have known Frances and her family all my life. It has been an honour to submit this article. The terms of the “People’s War” website have been read and understood

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