大象传媒

GRANDMA鈥橲 WAR MEMORIES

As a girl, I really wanted to join the Women鈥檚 Royal Naval Service. I had passed all the exams and the medical but was still waiting for my joining papers. So, by the age of 19, when war broke out, I was still a civilian, working in an office at HMS Vernon (a Naval shore establishment) in Portsmouth. Needless to say, when my 鈥榗all-up鈥� papers did eventually arrive I was not released to join the WRNS as I was already contributing to the war effort at HMS Vernon.

Because of the dockyard, the numerous storage depots and the naval establishments in and around the Portsmouth area, the city and its surrounds were frequently and heavily bombed by the Germans during the war years.

I lived at home with my Mother and brother in Portsmouth as Dad was away at sea. Often, when bombing raids were so close, there was not time to run to the nearest main shelter, so most families hid under the stairs or had an 鈥榠ndoor shelter鈥� which was like a big kitchen table with wire mesh around the sides. I hated being shut in it, as it made me feel claustrophobic. One day when we heard the incendiary bombs falling close to our house, my brother legged it to the main shelter, while Mum and I hid under the stairs. We could hear a loud 鈥榳hooshing鈥� noise of the bombs falling and we were aware of a very bright light outside. I opened the front door and all I could see was a huge sheet of flames. I quickly slammed the door and rushed back under the stairs.
Mum and I and my brother survived this incident unscathed but one of my work colleagues who lived on the other side of the street, was buried in the rubble of her house for a few hours and had to be dug out. She borrowed some clothes and bravely reported for work the next day.

One day as I got off the bus to walk the rest of the way to work, I heard a 鈥榬at-a-tat鈥� noise and looked up to see a German plane overhead. Bullets were ricocheting all around the street. I just closed my eyes and waited for it to stop.
Luckily I was OK, but a sailor, who was close by, was killed.

Our office was evacuated from HMS Vernon and we were working in Commercial Chambers which was a very tall building in Portsmouth. The top floor was used as a caf茅 and I remember having my very first taste of Nescafe there. The coffee powder came in cardboard containers with a metal lid like a tin. I recall coming back from my coffee break and hearing the sirens. The lift in the building stopped and we had to scramble out and make for the staircase so that we could get outside and run to the air raid shelter.

One Saturday, there was just a skeleton staff in the office, so I was on my own when the siren sounded. I ran to the shelter and huddled on the bench. I was joined by 2 sailors who had been in the cinema which had been directly hit by a German bomb. We were then joined by a midwife who was looking after a new mum and baby.

We heard the bombs dropping around us and there was one huge resounding bang which reverberated everything around us. We were all shaking, but one of the sailors put his hand in his pocket and produced a bar of chocolate - 鈥� Hhhhaavve a ppppiece of chchocolate鈥� he said to me. 鈥淭hththank yyou sssso mmmuch鈥� I stuttered in reply.
We eventually emerged from the shelter into an enormous bomb crater.

During this time I was asked to start up a new office in the Old Grammar School.
I was told to always have a small suitcase with me with my overnight things, in case I could not get home and had to be evacuated. I do recall there was no air raid shelter close to the Old Grammar School so whenever the sirens sounded, you really did have to run for your life.

On day in the office I got a message to say that I might not be able to get into my home in Portsmouth because it was unsafe!! I travelled home on the bus to find that there had been a daylight bombing raid. Four houses in the street behind ours were badly damaged and homes deemed unsafe were cordoned off. Thankfully our home was just outside the cordon and my family were OK.

This took its toll and unfortunately, I did become ill. The doctor advised that I should try and get a transfer away from Portsmouth as the strain of war was affecting my health. The Admiralty posted me to Bath where myself and another female colleague were billeted with a family in Newbridge Road. Our office was previously a hotel at the end of Pulteney Street, near a park and life was considerably less stressful than being in Portsmouth.
Periodically we were allowed a couple of days off, so I used to go back to Portsmouth to see my mum and brother. During one of my times off, Bath was bombed continuously for two whole nights. My landlady鈥檚 house was hit and the basement kitchen was knee deep in broken glass and debris and the garden was just a yawning crater.
The family and my work colleague evacuated to the landlady鈥檚 mothers house where the basement was used as a makeshift shelter. The house did suffer a direct hit and they all had to be dug out from under the stairs and from under the kitchen table. They did all survive but if I had been there as well, there would not have been enough room for us all to shelter, so I am convinced at least one of us would have been killed.
When I came back to Bath after my few days off I was met by a strange sight. My work colleague was wearing my clothes. 鈥淚 am so sorry鈥� she said 鈥渂ut all my clothes were damaged in the bombing so I hope you do not mind me wearing yours鈥�.

While I was still working at HMS Vernon I met Philip, who later become my husband. Philip was a scientist working for the admiralty and one experimental area he worked in was in the basement of some offices. The scientists had been developing a mine which accidentally exploded during testing and one person was sadly killed. Life was very difficult to reconcile in those days.

We held our wedding celebration in my mother鈥� house and I remember all the neighbours and our friends contributing their rations. I recall plates of sandwiches for the wedding guests and a two tier iced wedding cake. How my mother managed such a feat in such difficult times, I shall never know.
I wore a friends wedding dress and I lent a bridesmaids dress of mine to another friend. It was not unusual in those days for a wedding dress to be used at a number of happy occasions.
In those days, when stockings were not easily available, I recall painting my legs with 鈥榖rown stuff鈥� and then adding a black line all the way up the back of my legs to form a seam. Us girls always worried about our seams being straight. It seems ridiculous now that we used to neatly darn a ladder in our stockings so that they would last longer.

When Philip and I were first married we lived in Cosham and one night we heard bombing and our little house shook and the plaster started to crack and fall from the ceiling. Wearing only his pyjamas Philip got up and rushed out to see if anyone needed any help. I remember running after him in my nightdress carrying his slippers as he had forgotten to put them on.

In 1943 Philip was posted to a small place called Cove, in Scotland. It is on the west coast, a small peninsular where the Clyde and the Gareloch meet. Philip was very worried about me going with him as he said he had no idea what I was going to do to pass the time while he was at work. We endured a 鈥榥ightmare鈥� journey to get there. Firstly, the London platform and train to Edinburgh, via Leeds, was so crowded that Philip and I got separated 鈥� we had no idea if we had both got on the train. We did eventually find each other. Once in Edinburgh we then had to get across to Glasgow and then get a boat to Cove. I felt as though I was travelling to the end of civilisation.

Anyway, once we arrived in Cove, Philip did not need to worry about me 鈥� the area, although in those days quite remote, was very beautiful and I loved to walk on the shore line and on the hills. While we were there the weather was unseasonably good 鈥� and 鈥� there were other compensations!!
The food was WONDERFUL, the landlady (who was Irish!) even provided cooked breakfast. I had got used to a very meagre diet in Portsmouth, but being in the country in Scotland, all sorts of things were available and I almost forgot about rationing.

When we eventually came back to the Portsmouth area, I was required to go back to work to help the war effort. I was told that qualified bus drivers were needed, but as I did not have a drivers licence, I was offered a job scrubbing out the buses. I was not at all keen so, thankfully, I managed to find a job in a pharmacy.

By the time the war ended, I was expecting my first child. During the pregnancy I had been quite ill, but when peace was declared and people organised street parties and celebration bonfires, I was filled with a great sense of relief 鈥� and 鈥� I produced a healthy 9lb baby boy.

Written by: Paula Phillips

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