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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Rebecca Hood of the People's War Team in Wales on behalf of John Kelly and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was taken prisoner as a boy…for aggravating the home guard. Two of us. We were challenged and we were messing about as youngsters do. They had an exercise — I realised that after growing up — they had an exercise in challenging people whether they were friend or foe — but we found that we could break that ….by running up the river and they were missing people so we pointed that out to them by shouting at them from one side and running back to the other side and they couldn’t do anything at all about it. So they took us and put us as prisoners in the Felinfoel brewery ..for being naughty that was!

What I can remember mostly of the war was the number of Americans and various different troops that was housed in the town. All down through the whole of Stepney Street they were housed in places above the shops themselves. And then in People’s Park — as we call it in Llanelli — there was a load of landing craft; the docks itself was full all ready for the D-Day landings — I can remember that.

We had to consider what was being put in front of us ..for eating…Because there was only about an ounce of sugar or something of that nature….one egg a week. I used to like the dried egg — it was a supplement in the rations. My mother used to prepare us various meals and there was a lot of conservation having to take place and a lot of thought had to go into what meals were being prepared. I think it was a healthier means of eating than what we’ve got today.

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