大象传媒

I left school at the age of 14 years. I left in August 1939 and the bombing started I think in the autumn of the following year 1940.The goverment issued Anderson shelters and other types of shelter to every household and in Washwood Heath in Birmingham they built concrete shelters underground for emergency use. Some of the larger air raids could last up to 12 hours possibly from 6pm to 6am. We could tell when German planes were approaching by the sound of there engines, sort of a droning sound. Living in Washwood Heath we were quite a target area especially Saltley. One night in particular I remember coming out of the shelter thinking it was ok to come out when a white parachute was seen floating down about three streets away and then suddenly there was an almighty flash and explosion and all kinds of debris was thrown into the air where we were standing. I realised at this time it was a land mine. One evening I narrowly missed getting struck by a piece of shrapnel from the anti aircaft guns which embedded itself in the frame of the outside toilet door frame narrowingly missing my head. I still have the piece shrapnel to this day. I was in Coporation Street in the centre of Birmingham when it was totally engulfed by flames that could be 100ft in the air! Being young at the time I was issued with a card which gave me authority to enter any premises to put out fires caused by gas leaks or incendry bombs. This was called fire watching duties. Being a scout we were issued with a special red badge with the letters NS and a crown on to represent National Service which enabled me to take messages during the air raids for the police stations. When I was almost 17 I volunteered for the merchant navy but was for some reason turned down. I still don't know the reason to this day! I wrote to the local paper the Birmingham mail and told them how disgusted I was at not being able to go into the navy. I still have the newspaper article. I then decide to join the home guard. During the war the biscuit factory (faschinoes) at Washwood Heath was the main headquarters. At first we were not issued with any rifles so we made do with brooms as props for drilling purposes!! When we received rifles which were Canadian Ross single shot rifles we trained at Kingsbury rifle range. When I reached the age of 18 I was called up for the navy. My job was to look after the hydraulics etc. The first place I attended was in Warrington, Lancashire to get fit for a period of nine weeks. I then moved back to the midlands to RAF Hednesford on Cannock Chase for my fitters/mechanics course. A physcological test was given to see if you were suitable for your designated job. We were each given our very own full toolkit depending on which trade was followed. I came out in 1946, a year after the war had finished. We camme out with a full toolkit, which I still have! Unfortunately a few of our lads were killed on the base by propeller blades due to the fact that they couldn't be seen while they were spinning.
Aircraft were inspected every day and had to be fit for for flying by signing a form 700. The ATA (Air Transport Auxillary) which was made up of quite a few women used to pilot aircraft to navy bases and then onto aircraft carriers. Mostly between the navy air bases. The Coventry air raid fires could be seen from my home in Washwood Heath which was about 25 miles away they were so severe.

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