大象传媒

I lived in Guildford during the war, while my husband was away in the Navy where he was a gunner.

We had a communal shelter at the bottom of the garden and a metal Morrison one in doors. I put mattresses in it and the children slept there. I remember staying in it one night, and I could hear such a noise I thought the bombs were about to come through the floor boards, but it was only the sound of the Ack Ack guns, It was pretty frightening though.

When the bombing started, my mother had made us all go with the children to hers to hide in the cellar.

I did stay in the communal shelter one night, but I could hear the shrapnel raining down on top of it, and I found that too frightening. I decided to stay inside after that.

I remember my husband coming home on leave. He was terrified of the Doodlebugs. When I asked him about it, he said he wasn鈥檛 used to not having anything to fire back with.

Once when he came home on leave, he brought a large vase. It had survived the journey down from London, only for the taxi driver to drop it when they arrived. He refused to pay for the fare because of that! Once in Belgium, he swapped some tea and sugar for an Axminster carpet. I don鈥檛 know where he got everything from, I didn鈥檛 ask.

The longest he was ever away was ten months. I remember taking my daughter to Paddington to meet him when he got back from that. When my son was born though, they couldn鈥檛 find him to tell him as his ship had been sunk.

We used to have a sweet ration, and I would save all the children鈥檚 sweets in a jar, and give them two or three a day. When Bill came home, I caught him nicking them.

When he was demobbed he brought back an oar, a leopard skin shield, some little red waistcoats for the children, and a fur handbag from Tripoli. It got a bit old and worn, but I wish now I had kept it.

He also brought me back a pair of corsets from the US 鈥� I don鈥檛 know what he was trying to tell me! When he went to buy them, he hadn鈥檛 known my size, so the shop assistants had all lined up so he could gauge the right shape!

I had told his sister that I was pregnant, but had specifically asked her not to say anything as I wanted to be the one to tell him. Sure enough, the first thing she said when he came in the door was 鈥淏ill, you鈥檙e going to have another baby鈥�

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