大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Three Counties Radio on behalf of Elizabeth Brownridge and has been added to the site with her permission. Elizabeth fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

MRS MAISIE ELIZABETH BROWNRIDGE (NEE MARTIN)

MY DEAD EYE DAD

When war started I was 8 years old. I lived in Barrells Down Road, Bishop鈥檚 Stortford. At the end of the war I was 14 years old. I spent the war years here in Bishop鈥檚 Stortford living with my parents, brother and sister. In an air raid (warning) we had to sit in the cloakrooms at school. All the doors and windows had crosses of paper to stop them shattering. The time was wasted sitting in the cloakrooms. We were not encouraged to take a book, no one read to us, or did a spelling bee. We could spend an hour twice a day wasting time. Because I remember it well we must have been there a long time

There were German and Italian prisoners at Silver Leys in the old barracks. Two of the Italian prisoners worked with my father in the brewery. The prisoners were allowed into the town under curfew hours and at weekends the prisoners and local people thronged the town and on Sundays listened to the band in the Castle gardens. There were so many of them you could have walked on their heads.

There was a search light battery near Barrells Down, a Royal Artillery Battery. It was sealed off, but Mr Crauford was allowed near the search light because he could see the moths and insects. I expect he took his big net with him too.

One or two planes crashed around here. I know a British Defiant fighter crashed in the Brewery fields and the boys from Northgate School, they collected Perspex from the hood and a bit of pilots flesh in a tin. It looked like a bit of steak, I only saw it once. They used the shattered Perspex to make jewellery especially rings.

In summertime, on a Sunday afternoon, when we where having lunch, probably a roast. However small the meat ration, she (mother) would have roasted something, I heard a plane and got up and looked and said 鈥渢hat is a German plane, a Dornier. That was when my father got all excited. Seeing it circle round, he decided to take up his Lee Enfield rifle and with his neighbour, Bill Curtis, decided to take a pot shot at the plane. But I did not see this happen as my mother made my sister and I sit under the table. This was the most eventful day for my father in the Home Guard. He didn鈥檛 hit it, it went off into the distance as far as I heard (from under the table).

When I was getting ready for school in the morning, when I was 12 years, I would hear the drone of the American Air force Marauders revving up for take off at Stansted. They would circle and form groups to fly their daylight bombing raids on Germany, and I counted them out. Then I would go off to school and spend the rest of the day in school. Towards the end of the day I heard the distant drone of the planes returning to Stansted, when I counted them back in. This would take an hour but they never all returned. I think we owe them a lot in defence of our land and the American Cemetery at Cambridge is a stark reminder of the sacrifice they made.

In the town they were helpful and friendly fellows. These were men in a land they didn鈥檛 know. When cycling past Woolworths my breaks seized. These very kind Americans took my bike over to the kerb and repaired all my brakes for me.

There were no cars or civil aircraft about in Bishop鈥檚 Stortford. The only car parked in the town was Mr Joscelyne鈥檚, of the furniture firm. So 100 Marauder engines revving up could be heard. Life was leisurely, you didn鈥檛 travel far. Yes, I was happy. We lived on top of Barrells Down and we played in the fields. We came across deserters but they weren鈥檛 very frightening.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.