大象传媒

Abergavenny in Monmouthshire South Wales was and still is a small market town, but during the war years that I remember it was busy housing and catering for different nationalities in the district.

The Americans
There was an American hospital based outside the town exactly where I don't know as I was too young at the time to be told.
Many Americans came into the town for shopping and entertainment and they all looked very smart in different uniforms. The Americans were very friendly particularly to the children, we liked to see them because they gave us chewing gum and sweets we had never seen and also salted nuts and chocolate which was a real treat to us as all our sweets were rationed and I had never seen chocolate before.
They chatted to us all wanting to know where we played and all the different games we played. The Americans told us about their families and their children. They would play with us up the park and down in the castle meadows, very innocent as compared to today.
My mother and sister would be with me sometimes as I was only four years old in 1941. Everybody was friendly to the Americans I suppose because they were so different to us, as they came from large cities.
A new shop opened in town which made donuts, which was something I don't think anybody had ever seen before. The smell of the donuts cooking was delicious I don't remember anybody from Abergavenny buying them, but I had a taste from one of the soldiers. I suppose the shop was a good idea as it made the Americans feel very welcome.
One day we were asked to bring a large container in to school, so my mother gave Ceri and I a large tin used for powdered babies milk. We were then told to form a queue and the tins were filled with chocolate powder, just like the drinking chocolate we have today. We had never seen it before so what a treat! The Americans had sent it in for us. Mum made it last for ages as it was used for drinks and cake when there was enough ingredients as everything was rationed.

The Italians
Across the road from where we lived there was a huge field that usually had horses and ponies in it sometimes we would go for a ride on the ponies and very often go and feed them too. One day a lot of large equipment arrived and a lot of digging started. There were many men all dressed in the same dungarees and they were digging in large trenches. I was a real nosey parker and would wander off to see what was going on. When the men had a break for lunch they would sit in a group and chat and smoke and always seemed to eat bread and cheese. I would sit with them too but would not understand their language. There was one man who could speak English and his name was Luigi and he told me they were Italians. Apparently they had children at home in Italy, and would talk about the games that their children played and what they were taught at school. They would tell me lots of stories and I spent a lot of time talking to them. I was about five years old then and it was a long time before my mother knew that I was talking to these men, when she realised I had a real ticking off. They were all very kind but mum said they were prisoners of war. Even now when I think back I know they only wanted to talk because they missed their own children. Despite being prisoners they certainly looked free enough to me and nobody came and told me to go away! I often wondered what happened to Luigi but I suppose it is a common Italian name.
The Italians built huge sheds about the size of 10 Nissen huts and they were painted black. It did not take long for us to find our way into one of the huts and found that they were filled with sacks of dried fruit. We only had dried fruit at Christmas so we had a real treat eating all we wanted, not really thinking we were stealing. Once our parents found out we all had a good telling off! But I wonder if they had some too before telling the authorities! I believe there was sugar and flour in the other huts, but we were banned from going near the sheds again.

The Germans
The village adjoining Abergavenny was called the Mardy and they had a different sort of prisoner, they always walked around never doing any work and they all wore long grey overcoats. I was told they were never allowed into town at all because they were hated so much, apparently they were Germans but nobody spoke about them.
We had a mental hospital in Abergavenny called 'Pen y Fal' which housed lots of people with mental problems but for any treatment the patients were taken to another hospital further up Ross Road called 'Maindiff'. I heard everyone talking about a man in the hospital who was a prisoner his name was Rudolf Hess, it was all supposed to be a big secret. Mum took my sister Ceri and me up to Maindiff one day as we were told that Rudolf Hess was being taken away. We all waited outside the big gates and a long it came, a very big car which had a lot of people in it, but the man I looked at had big black bushy eyebrows and it was quite frightening. Perhaps I had been told he was nasty and that's why he appeared to be so frightening. My aunt was a nurse in Maindiff and many years later told me that Rudolf Hess was treated well and he liked painting so he was taken out of the hospital to a place called 'White Castle' where he painted lots of views. I wonder where those paintings are today?! My aunt also said that any soldiers who were guarding Hess were sworn to secrecy and anyone heard talking about the prisoner would soon be transferred.
Abergavenny did not suffer any bombing or any other effects of the war but we all had to learn about defense and drilled in what to do if necessary. Everyone had a gas mask and mine was a small Mickey Mouse one, it was in a box that I carried over my shoulder with a strap and it went everywhere with me.

The Home Guard
There was a group of men called the Home Guard and they would do a shift system guarding important buildings and along the railway tracks. My father belonged to the Home Guard and he had a gun when he was on duty that was made of wood. Apparently it was said that any aeroplane flying over Abergavenny would think they were real! The Home Guard also checked that nobody had left the curtains open at night to show any light. The Home Guard consisted of local men and every able-bodied man was expected to do his shifts. We had three railway stations in Abergavenny so there was a lot to patrol. Two of the stations were for passengers and one for freight so the lines were always busy. There always seemed to be more trains at night, perhaps for security reasons.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Sarah Tack of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mrs. M Bird and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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