大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by volunteer from The Chepstow Society on behalf of Edward Priest and has been added to the site with his permission. Edward Priest fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Army

The Yanks before D-Day, they used to have all their stuff brought over to the Warren, you know which is at the end of Alpha Road. Their equipment, they used to bring these tanks and different things. You know they were living in the huts in Bulwark Camp. Yes I lived in Alpha Road, the last house was 38. Yanks were billeted in Bulwark Camp, and they wouldn鈥檛 let them out before D Day because they knew they would kick up a fuss about it, and our troops were keeping them in. But they used to bring all the tanks and different things into the woods. It was all fenced off and then they took them out of the big boxes and they would get them all ready and check them over ready for D Day. They used to train them up and down Alpha Road. There was always a group of them being trained up. Of course we used to get in underneath the wire, and try and get packets of food and stuff. We sorted the cigarettes out for them like you know. The Yanks had everything that we didn鈥檛 have.

Home Life

My mother used to make my trousers, shirts and stuff, like. I was always over the trees taking the backside out of them.

The Town

Hanbury Garage they moved into a doughnut place for the Yanks. They had a place for the people to sit and they had a big stairs here, you could see through the glass. And they had big things painted on the walls with the Yanks carrying those big trays of doughnuts up the stairs. And we had a job to get anything to eat. We used to have our mouths watering.

When we were 16 we used to be down the pub didn鈥檛 we. We used to go dancing, we had a nice place in the back, oh it鈥檚 the Methodist Church - remember the church hall they had, we used to go dancing. They used to be teaching us to dance, we had some good times in there, just youths.
And we used to have good dances in the Public Hall like. There used to all sorts in there - Yanks ....

Work in Wartime

I served my apprenticeship with George Watkins, the ones who used to be opposite the Conservative Club in Moor Street. Well George Watkins, Gwynne鈥檚 father and George, they were in business, there were three brothers. When I went there in 1943 I started my apprenticeship. I was only 14. I was only there about a twelve-month working and the other tradesmen were drafted. Gwynne Watkins had to go to the Red & White to keep the buses going to help get them into the factories. Bert Meredith had to go up to the hospital I think it was, Mount Pleasant no the one the other side, to help finish those places off they were building it ready for the RAF for people to come back to when they got hurt. Well I was painting houses and I was getting a bit annoyed because he was still charging the proper rate for painting, so well in the finish I knew I was only seventeen, I knew I was going in the army when I was eighteen, so I said I want 1/6d a hour or I鈥檓 finishing. I鈥檒l have to see my brother he said Charlie like but they paid me in the finish.

When the bomb dropped in the woods down over the riverbank, you know the back of The Dell. Next day I had to go with Charlie Greene and we had to repair the lead gutter in Bell Chambers because the bomb had damaged it.

I鈥檝e known the time when Albert Watkins, Bert Meredith and I have had to go and get a bag of cement from the Lydney & Chepstow Trading down the bottom yard, go to the railway station, go up to Brockweir, get off at Brockweir Halt and then wheel it all up to the field to a repair job. I remember there would be three of us so we shared it. Then George Watkins would have got a horse and cart, Dibden to take the stone, sand and stuff out, but I suppose the cement we just would take when we wanted it. If we took a ladder anywhere it had to be on two bikes. One on the front and one on the back. Oh, I鈥檝e taken out to Clays out to St. Arvans, there was no transport like. If we鈥檇 been working for other builders in town they wouldn鈥檛 have had transport not in those days. We often handled a 45ft rung ladder on two bikes old Albert and I.

We used to work on the farm down at Sammy Sharps, because all the men were at war the boys had to do it, picking potatoes. Just go down for extra money, picking potatoes, swedes wasn鈥檛 it and help a bit with the harvesting. They paid us with money, and a drop of cider of course.

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