大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Rebecca Hood of the People's War Team on behalf of Gillian Rees and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was born in 1938鈥�. So I progressed from one of the incubators to a mickey mouse gas mask 鈥� I don鈥檛 remember the others, the more advanced ones. I do remember the rationing and the points system. I remember, too, Saturday mornings in Carmarthenshire - when my mother would go the market, because it was a country area, and you could buy things like butter and so forth. But it was all black market so you didn鈥檛 talk about it! She would then walk up to some farms around there and she would collect things like eggs and butter to send to my father who was away in the forces. And then we鈥檇 have pans around the house, full of eggs being preserved and we had an allotment.

My mother had to go back teaching, because they needed teachers. (She was grateful for that because she鈥檇 had to give up teaching when she got married.) And we had this allotment - everyone had to have an allotment - but what did she do with me? She put me on top of the rubbish and they all dug around!鈥ll the children of the street were put on top of the rubbish and then they鈥檇 dig around and obviously gather all the vegetables and things. And because she was teaching, because she had a small child, she didn鈥檛 have the young evacuees billetted. Instead she had a gentleman from what we鈥檇 call the Secret Service, now I believe. He was an undercover agent, who came from Scotland, and whose name was Jimmy Frazer. And Jimmy Frazer was a very quiet gentleman 鈥ho spent all his day reading鈥nd in the night he would mysteriously disappear to Trevaughan Woods where they鈥檇 have secret meetings.

We believe there were underground caves where things were kept paintings, jewels and all sorts of things鈥�.from London..kept underground 鈥� because we were regarded as a safe area 鈥� so safe that we were bombed several times.

We had two American bases 鈥nd the Americans were very generous to us, very kind I must say. They gave us lots of things, candies, film shows, introduced us to Mickey Mouse, and I was given a box along with all the other children, from South Dakota, from the children there, to say we鈥檙e sorry you鈥檙e in this predicament. And I opened the box and there were lots of things in red white and blue because we shared the colours obviously鈥�. We had pencils and tops and yo-yos鈥ou name it. My mother wouldn鈥檛 let me touch it, she said 鈥渘ow you keep that鈥� 鈥� and I鈥檝e treasured it all these years鈥nd last year I went to America for the first time and I went to South Dakota and I thought 鈥淲ell, I鈥檝e got to say thank you鈥濃�o I asked the manager of the hotel if he could take a little note from me just to say 鈥淭hank you very much鈥t鈥檚 taken sixty years but I鈥檓 grateful鈥�. He said 鈥渨ould you write a long letter to the children?鈥� So I wrote a long letter and explained what Wales was all about and what it concerned鈥nd I didn鈥檛 think any more of it鈥 got back to this country and the Governor of South Dakota wrote to me and said 鈥淭hank you so much, would you keep in touch鈥� so I鈥檓 now in touch with the children of South Dakota, telling them about Wales and so it鈥檚 reciprocated.

I went to school when I was three鈥ecause my mother went back teaching, she was given the privilege of taking me to school as well. My mother had infants and she had class size of 100 and it was an old church school and I would say the room she taught in was a very, very small room. But of course children didn鈥檛 move, they didn鈥檛 speak, you didn鈥檛 say anything, you just did things by rote. And then you progressed into the other room and because it was a very old school, it was one of those 19th century schools where the desks went up one side and the other the head mistress sat in the middle. You couldn鈥檛 hear not a sound, but children really, apart from the games they played, there wasn鈥檛 any problem. We played aeroplanes tho, I remember that quite distinctly, and I suppose really these were all kind of wartime games, and I remember vague things about that鈥ut there were no problems at all. We were not aware there was anything wrong because we led a very sheltered life. We had no sweets鈥 remember my mother queueing for a banana and then watched my face and I thought 鈥渢his is the most awful thing I鈥檝e ever tasted in my life鈥� It was horrible. I remember when sweets came off 鈥� I was 15 鈥� and I saved my money and was given some points to buy my mother a box of chocolates and that was it. But you didn鈥檛 miss what you didn鈥檛 have. I remember looking at some of the lovely magazines my mother had from before the war with boxes of chocolates鈥nd you could have drawers that you could open and chocolates in layers 鈥� I鈥檇 never seen anything like that in my life. You had to go to one particular shop to buy all your groceries 鈥�.you went in and you had to give your points, and they鈥檇 cross of the points 鈥� and then money was put in the till鈥nd it was in those days with the overhead. The tills were at one end and you had the overhead system - I think we fared quite well.

We had a few bombs dropped in our area鈥�.but we were alright.

The best thing was how people pulled together鈥�.When people came back after being in the war there were cheers鈥eople would come out and cheer鈥�.and we were a quiet little avenue, not a busy street. Everyone would cheer them. And when Swansea was bombed and flattened 鈥nd the men came back after fighting through the night, and all the stray children who were found in the debris were brought back鈥gain, tremendous homecoming. And I remember going with my mother, because we had one lad called Oliver Davies and he was shot down overseas鈥nd nobody said anything鈥ou just quietly went to the house and all sat there just right around the room just to show there was solidarity and we understood what she was going through. I think you took things as they came鈥�.you expected people to die. There was great excitement in school if any of the parents came home on leave because they would bring foreign dolls or something like that 鈥� some little trinket鈥�.So of course you鈥檇 be the centre of attention for the day then, you can imagine.

There was excitement around VE Day鈥�.. There was excitement in the market in the morning, where people were buying things 鈥�.now they came out no Black Market 鈥�.everything came out鈥�.all the rations came out, all the jellies and things that had been secreted away鈥ll the tables came out, right down the street. 鈥� of course you didn鈥檛 have to worry about traffic cos there weren鈥檛 any cars, in fact the only people who had cars were taboo 鈥� they were using petrol! They shouldn鈥檛 have a car that was naughty. So we had all these tables and all the children came out鈥�.and it was a party for the children 鈥 think. And it was lovely鈥 learnt to dance鈥�.and we saw a bonfire for the first time. Because we hadn鈥檛 seen fire or anything like that except for the day my father accidentally set fire to the hedge. He鈥檇 been burning something in the garden and I think one of the little things had caught in the hedge鈥nd all the neighbours came out to put it out. Good God if there was a fire in the night imagine what could happen.

The little flags鈥�.we didn鈥檛 have any bunting 鈥ut there was food. And we had a lot of Dutch children with us 鈥�..and the children who came down from Sandwich and we all joined forces. Mind you I think some of the Dutch children had a very rough time鈥ecause the main language in my area was Welsh 鈥� they couldn鈥檛 speak English 鈥� there was no common parlance so to speak 鈥nd they were viewed with suspicion. They were foreign in any case 鈥o I think they had a bit of a rough time. I can remember some of the boys bullying the little ones who came over鈥�.but they fought back and it ended quite peacefully.

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