大象传媒

George Cooper is now 89 but when he was in the war he was 24. In the war he worked on the railway lines fixing the track, this was a protected occupation and he remembers being stopped at the cinema because he was not in military uniform and asked why he had not joined up!. Before the war, he lived out in the country in Llandudno with his newly wedded wife, but as a result of the war he had to move to Birmingham taking his wife with him, who had never been to a city before. He told us that it was a very frightening experience for him and his wife because they had to leave their whole family behind.
He remembered the blackouts as being a very frightening time and he used to hear bombs going off at night but didn鈥檛 know where it was coming from. He said he remembered a time when a house down his street was blown up and the baby and mother survived but the father did not. He said that there was only half of the house left and that he was very upset, but luckily he was never hurt by anything. He also remembered that the railway track he had been blown up one night and the day after he had to repair it and he said luckily no one was hurt.
He also remembered rationing was really hard. He said everyone had to take booklets to shops to get food because it was that bad. He said one time that he wanted to go and get some sausages from the butcher but was too late because he had to get dressed and when he got there the sausages had gone.
Another thing he remembered was that he had to use an Anderson shelter in his garden lots of times. He said that there was nothing inside apart from two benches and a chimney going down to a fire where you could cook and keep things warm. He said if you hadn鈥檛 been given shelters, then they would have to go and hide under the stairs. He said that the shelters could only fit about 4/5 people inside. They used to play cards or ludo but he said it got boring after a while.
Another thing he talked about was V.E day. George and his wife were very happy and they had street parties. Everyone got drunk and there was lots of dancing. He also went to church with his wife to thank everyone and the lights came back on. Also his wife鈥檚 brother came home after being on the war. His wife he said worked in a factory making Lancaster bombers.
He thought that Churchill did a very good job and that he inspired the people of his country, also that Churchill was the only man who could have done the job. He said if he had been offered to go in the war, then he would have done so. He was never asked because he worked on the railway lines.

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