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I was about five when the war started, and we lived at Menith Wood (known by the locals as The Gossy) in Worcestershire. My dad was a 1st Lieutenant in the Home Guard, and he led a platoon at Clows Top. It was my duty to clean his boots and polish his buckles for him, when he had to be on parade. My brother, and my cousin who lived with us, were both in the army.

I remember the night they bombed Coventry. We saw droves of planes coming over, and we all went up onto ‘The Hill’ at Menith Wood, from where you could see the light from Coventry. Although I didn’t know it at the time, my future wife was born on that day.

I can remember glider planes being towed over, and also a bomb was dropped at Stockton. It was at night-time so everything was blacked out, and there was a theory that they had mistaken the lights from one Yarranton’s buses, on the road, for a building, but I don’t know if that is right. We went down to look for some shrapnel. I did get a bit, which I kept for many years, but I don’t know where it is now.

I was at school at Pensax. We had to walk the 1-½ miles to school from home. Pensax Court was occupied by the military, and there was a Searchlight Unit at Pensax. One of the men from this unit eventually married my sister, and he used to bring us cake from his Army Issue. But out in the country there weren’t really any hardships. There was plenty of black-market produce about. There were a few shortages, such as clothing, but nothing much else.

One big event during that time was a football match that was held between the people of Menith Wood against the soldiers from Pensax. Mr. Draper made medals for the winners out of pop-bottle tops. My father was the referee, being quite an authoritarian type. It really was quite an event in the village.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Joe Taylor for the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of David Kay and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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