大象传媒

The outbreak of war
I was married in August 1938, the year that Chamberlain came back from seeing Hitler in Berlin waving his bit of paper saying that he had assurances from the fuehrer that he would not invade neighbouring countries. The Prime Minister declared 鈥淧eace in our time鈥�! We believed him because we wanted to, but many of us had serious misgivings about the trustworthiness of Hitler. There were reports filtering through about the appalling atrocities being perpetrated on the Jews and other groups, such as the Jehovah Witnesses, gypsies etc. The SS (Storm Troopers) came into being straight away and they instigated a reign of terror and the introduction of concentration camps 鈥� places of hell!

Our fears were realised in 1939. My husband and I, who lived in Middlesex, were in Cornwall when the news came through on the radio. Chamberlain was announcing in gravest of voices that Hitler had not kept his pledges and had that day invaded Poland. Therefore he said that England was now at war with Germany!

Petrol rationing came into force immediately, and had it not been for our farmer host who filled up the car we would not have managed to get home to London in the car. We were fearful about what the war would mean, and we drove back in a state of anxiety. As the 鈥渂lackout鈥� was compulsory straight away, I remember finding blankets to cover up the windows. They were totally ineffective of course, and the next few days were spent finding an efficient method. The Air Raid wardens came round each evening to check that there was no glimmer of light. Car headlights had to be masked so that the light was directed downwards. Signposts disappeared in order to confuse possible invaders.

A few days after the declaration of war, the air raid sirens went off, which caused a great deal of panic as we did not know what to do or what to expect. We took ourselves downstairs to the flat below knowing that the excellent sound proofing meant that there was 6鈥� of concrete above us.

Nothing much happened then for the next year, except for the issue of gas masks for everyone including babies 鈥� ominous in itself. By law we had to carry them with us at all times.

My war effort
It seems unthinkable now that in those days, once a female teacher married, they were unemployable, except for when they were needed for a bit of relief work every now and then. Thus my teaching career came to an end only two years after qualifying. I tried to do all sorts of other things to help the war effort. I think the first was answering an appeal for people to write ration books. I duly reported to the Town Hall where there must have been 200 souls all writing away. When the bell went for tea break I had only one address to finish, so I did it. To my amazement a union representative came along and said 鈥渦nless you put your pen down immediately I shall call the whole room out on strike鈥�. It seemed an odd reaction to a vital war effort! I did not go back to that job.

Next came on appeal by the manufacturers for people to pick rose hips to make into the much needed rose hip syrup rich in vitamin C. We could not make it ourselves because we didn鈥檛 have sufficient sugar. I took a few children with me and we picked the hips till our hands were sore and scratched - we had pounds and pounds. I took them to the depot where we had been told to go but they would not accept them, in spite of all our remonstrance. I鈥檓 afraid that unbeknown to the children, I had to throw them away.

Then there was a request over the radio for people to entertain the serving men with perhaps a meal and a bath. So down I went and said to a rather severe lady at the Citizens Advice Bureau that we would like to entertain the troops. We had an anti-aircraft emplacement two miles away. She told me to sit down whereupon she asked me whether I sang or danced. I said 鈥淣o鈥� and asked 鈥淒oes it matter?鈥� 鈥淲ell what are you going to do for the men?鈥� she asked. Rather weakly I said 鈥済ive them a meal and a bath鈥� and felt her unconcealed disdain. Considerably discouraged by my contributions to the war effort I wondered what to do next.

Teaching
Now came the emancipation of women in the teaching profession. With many men serving in the armed forces, women were badly needed and were compelled to go back to teaching. They were assured a permanent job and were never henceforth excluded.

I was sent to a large modern primary school and by now the bombing had increased. Two things remain in my memory. When the sirens sounded in the daytime, it was my job, as the youngest member of staff, to run and lock the two gates some one hundred yards apart. This was apparently to stop the parents getting in, which seemed strange, since locking the parents out also served to keep out fire, police and ambulance services. The children were all ushered into the underground shelters. They were long and narrow with the children sitting side by side on the long seats. Teaching in those circumstances was limited in the extreme, and there is no doubt that the education of children suffered very much at this time. Air raids increased steadily and the next move was to evacuate children and pregnant mothers. I was very involved with it and I find it very difficult to write about it. It was quite one of the most harrowing experiences of my life.

Evacuation
On a very cold, dark, wet November morning, we assembled at a main line station. The children, aged 5 to 7, about 30 in number, were brought by their weeping parents, They carried gas masks round their necks, little suitcases cases and had name labels pinned on their coats. Neither we, the parents, nor the children were allowed to know where we were going. The poor little mites, were bewildered and frightened. The parents, though grief-stricken, were certain they were doing the right thing for their children. They were also fearful that they might not see them again if anything happened to them in the raids. So it was a very sad little gathering on that cold, cheerless November morning as we set off on our journey to the unknown.

When we arrived in the dark, at the little Welsh mining village that proved to be our destination, it was foggy and drizzly and cold. The black-out meant that there was complete darkness 鈥� not a good start. We were assembled in the school hall where the local people were waiting to take in the children. Quite a few had already been spoken for, but for the remainder it felt a bit like a cattle market. 鈥淭hat one looks strong鈥�, said some locals. Finally all but eight had been selected, among them a brother and sister, the brother had a protective arm around his sister, strongly declaring that they were not to be separated. In all the confusion no one had told them that the Director of Education was offering a home, so all was well with them.

Then came the tragic business of taking the remaining eight little children to find somewhere for them. This meant knocking on doors and asking if it was possible to take a child, all this in a very foggy, drizzly night. Eventually all the children were housed and we teachers went to the only hotel in the district and spent the night, too tired to talk, almost too tired to eat. But it was not yet all over. In the morning we had to go round to all the billets and check that all was well. The village people were kind 鈥� the houses, although small were warm and welcoming. (We city dwellers had had a great shortage of coal for some time, but the miners did not have the same difficulty.) Not all the homes were equally suitable: we were appalled to find some children sleeping in outhouses, on mattresses spread on stone floors, the huts unheated. So we had to start again knocking on doors to find better accommodation. Finally we managed it but found it emotionally draining. I made up my mind that if I had children, I would prefer to keep them with me, even if it meant all perishing together.

Illness and the Blitz
When I returned from the evacuation, I was greeted with the bad news that my young, previously athletic and fit husband had contracted TB and had to go to a sanatorium in Bournemouth for an indefinite period. He had been troubled with a bad cough for quite a long time. Bournemouth seemed a million miles away. Because of the bombing he would not let me stay on in our little home and I moved to Epsom Common to stay with family, but I felt that I had lost everything, and it was so very difficult to visit him. There were no drugs for T.B. and the only treatment was either to collapse a lung or give constant fresh air. My husband said there beds were wheeled onto the veranda, which was open on two sides, and many a time they had to brush the snow off their beds! This lasted from November to March. In the event, he did not have to have the lung collapsed. I am happy to say that he finally came home completely cured and had no other trouble with T.B. for the rest of his life. We were able to set up a home again, living then in the same place for the next twenty years.

The house where I stayed at Epsom was on the common and therefore safe in terms of air raids. However, as the house was high up we could see the raids on the London area. This was a spectacular and terrifying sight: we saw the explosions, the fires that were caused and even gasworks going up in flames. We knew that the loss of life was huge. It was dreadful to think about. Later, when I moved back to London I myself was in the midst of this mayhem.

Rationing and a new baby
On the home front, food and clothing, rationing was in force. Fresh fish was not rationed and the price was controlled so we were able to get things like turbot and halibut. (After the war I was not able to afford turbot and halibut.) We found dried egg particularly unpleasant. We were being urged to 鈥渄ig for victory鈥� and any ground that was in any way suitable for cultivation was made over for this: gardens, parkland and any waste ground. Every housewife had a large store of Kilner jars, and as soft-fruits and vegetables came into season, they were preserved in the jars in a weak solution of sugar and water (sugar was rationed). The jars were sealed and put into the oven at a very moderate heat for a controlled time. We were very proud of our jars all ready for the winter. Runner beans were salted in stone jars. Onions, cauliflower, gherkins and tomatoes were all preserved. If we could save enough from sugar ration, we made a limited amount of jam 鈥� a rare treat. Bread was not rationed, so it was usual to have one slice buttered, one with margarine and one slice with jam on unbuttered bread.

We got very adept at making a can of Spam go a long way. This was to supplement a meagre meat ration. We made Spam fritters, fried Spam and dried egg, Spam hotpot, etc. Oxtails and offal were off ration, but it meant standing in one of the very long queues. Imported fruit, such as grapes and bananas, almost disappeared. I well remember queueing for one and half hours for three bananas, which I took home for my little daughter. She would not touch them!

From 1941 there was rationing for canned meat and vegetables, followed by canned fruit, condensed milk, breakfast cereal and biscuits. Each person was given an extra sixteen points a month and these could be spent at any shop that had the items wanted. Then follwed was clothes rationing which was very hard on new mothers like me. I was able to buy only twelve towelling nappies when I had my first baby in 1943. By saving up coupons for material I made nightdresses, vests, dresses, rompers and knickers.

For adults, clothes rationing gave its limitations. Law stipulated that mens' suits were allowed only three pockets, three buttons and a set trouser length. A woman's nightdress took six coupons, a man鈥檚 overcoat sixteen coupons, a ladies dress eleven, underpants four, pyjamas eight. We were given only sixty coupons each per annum, so I am afraid all our underclothing in particular got shabbier and shabbier. 鈥淢ake do and mend鈥� was the order of the day. We were encouraged to make new clothes from old materials and I remember making several skirts out of old curtains. I was not knitter but those who were unravelled old jumpers and knitted the wool into something else. Like the other young women, I drew black lines down the back of our legs to pretend we were wearing stockings. These were imposable to get until the Americans Forces arrived.

There was a great deal of sharing and bartering with coupons, so that for instance, a bride might have a wedding dress, although some girls were very clever at making parachute silk into wedding dresses. Little mishaps became of unreasonable importance. I remember managing to pick up a remnant of woollen material just enough to make my little girl a skirt. She was very pleased with it, but to my horror, while I was out of the room, she cut a hole two inches square in the front of it. I was devastated.

With baths we were exhorted to have no more than five inches of water in order to save fuel for heating, and as many as possible in the family were to use the same bath. Our poor old daddy got the short straw, but he never complained.

Also affected by rationing, were goods like furniture, as wood was very scarce. As people couldn鈥檛 replace or repair their homes they also grew shabbier as the war went on. Utility furniture was designed to use as little wood as possible. This was relaxed somewhat for newly weds and civilians who had lost everything due to bombing. Utility prams were dreadful 鈥� just boxes on four small wheels and were real bone shakers. On this front I was very lucky, and I bought a beautiful pre-war Marmet pram second-hand for five pounds from the nurse at the nursing home. It was 鈥渃oach-sprung鈥� and in excellent condition and I was the envy of all my friends. I used that pram for both my babies and then passed it on to another grateful mother. The police advised certain procedures in the event of a daytime bombing raid while out with the baby. This was to remove the baby from the pram and put him or her in the gutter and lie on top, thus shielding the baby. Fortunately such a contingency never occurred! The only time I was really frightened was when the V2s started, because there was no warning and no sound until they landed and exploded, causing a great loss of life. When that started I was preparing to evacuate to the country with the first baby. Mercifully, the allies invaded and destroyed the launching pads.

Looking back
And so the days and years passed, the war taking what would have been our carefree twenties. We lost a much-loved brother in law in Tripoli, killed in his prime.

The Japanese raid on Pearl Harbour brought America into the war. Our captured troops were subjected to a treatment so savage and cruel by the Japanese, it was unbelievable. We鈥檇 had Germany inflicting evil and horror on millions for years. It always amazed me that the two nations of Germany and Japan with perhaps the greatest artistic cultures in the world could indulge in such bestiality. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USA and UK made my heart feel like a stone. I was walking alone and heard the news coming from one of the radio shops and I remember saying out loud 鈥淕od, what have we done? What have we released?鈥� Certainly it stopped the war with Japan, but a new dread came into the whole world for posterity.

Youngsters have said to me 鈥渄idn鈥檛 you feel frightened?鈥� The answer is yes for about the first two weeks, but you can鈥檛 live in constant fear indefinitely and we developed a kind of fatalism, got up and went about our lives. There was such a great feeling of community with everyone lending a hand, particularly when people were bombed out. Physically we were trimmer and healthier as a result of the limited ration, but God preserve us from another World War in spite of the fact that man-kind does not seem able to work things out without killing one another.

I am now eighty seven years and disabled and I never expected to live so long. There are many times that I feel great sadness when I survey the world our brave boys fought for.

Rene

Appendix with acknowledgements to Lichfield Libraries Archive Department.

Food rationing per week per person:
In cost
1s.10d meat (the equivalent of 7.5 p)
In weight
2oz butter
2oz lard
2oz margarine
3 pints of milk
2oz tea
8oz sugar
2oz sweets
1lb of jam every month
1 egg or packet of dried egg every two months
4oz bacon or ham
3oz cheese

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