大象传媒

Memories of life in Brixham and Coventry during the War

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Paul Trainer of Torbay Library Services on behalf of David Wallis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's Terms and Conditions.

My earliest recollection at 5 years old was of my parents looking so sad, announcing that there was going to be a war. I knew from their expressions that this was not a good thing. My father had served in the First War in the trenches. At the time my father was running the family carpentry and joinery businesss in Paignton. His main worry was whether he would get sufficeint timber allocation to be able to carry on the business. He was offered a job in Coventry with GEC in early 1940 and he went on ahead of the rest of the family; we followed a few weeks later and purchased a house there after selling the family home in Paignton at a loss as we needed to move quickly.

The first few months in Coventry were relatively pleasant, and the family went on day trips. This all changed fairly quickly and by the summer air raids were beginning. A number of factories in Coventry had become munitions factories.

The raids became so regular that my sisters and I were sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs as we did not have our own shelter. The meomory of the sound of sirens still sends a shiver down my spine. Although I attended school I remember nothing except sitting for hours in the air raid shelter at the school.

Our house was not hit at all but close by houses were bombed. I remember queueing up with buckets to get water.

We came back to Brixham in December 1940 as my father was offered a job as a carpenter with Uphams Shipyard who were making motor launches. I remember going to the shipyard for the launch of one of these.

In 1944 the Americans arrived and camped around Brixham. We were surrounded by fields at the time (now Penn Meadows Housing Estate). The Americans seemed to stay for about a week at a time. They would have sentries and I remember my parents taking hot drinks and biscuits to them and finding coins on the tray. The following day, on commenting how young the sentry looked, we were told he had been sent back as he was under age!

From the top of Wallpark Road at Halfway Cottage to the top of Victoria Road at Roundtop was a field. The Americans laid a concrete road between these points and I can remember seeing a bulldozer for the first time. This road remains to this day. At the time it was built to accommodate their tanks and vehicles to enable them to load at the breakwater.

I was at Furzeham School and at lunch times we used to go out with sacks to collect salvage (mainly scrap paper, cardboard) and help the war effort. We would call at private houses and hotels and take the salvage back to school. As an occassional treat we were told to bring a screwtop jar into school, which was then filled from a large container with cocoa. The shops were sparse at the time and we ate mainly local produce. We had our own hens and rabbits and also an allotment.

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