- Contributed by听
- Margaret Hartrey
- People in story:听
- Margaret Hartrey
- Location of story:听
- Aylesbury/Cardiff
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A2704745
- Contributed on:听
- 05 June 2004
This was taken 2 weeks before D-Day. I was 21 and gave my boyfriend a copy. He died during the D-Day battles.
D 鈥 Day Memory
D-Day happened during my time at Aylesbury. We were all aware that something big was going on, but none of, of course, knew what.
On that fateful day, I was walking to work 鈥 a 鈥渘ormal鈥 day in all respects, except for the fact that the sky was full. There were so many planes and gliders, you couldn鈥檛 see a patch of sky between them! Day turned to night, so to speak. I went on to work, waiting for the news. A few of the friends I had made in our forces died that day.
After the war
Everyone had to try to get back to normal. Jobs were in short supply, the housing situation was desperate, food stayed on ration for quite a while, the food minister decided that bread coupons were to be issued, and that manual workers were issued with extra coupons. Soap was also rationed, but the same rule applied to manual workers for soap as for bread.
Housing proved to be a great problem as you can imagine. Prefabricated houses (commonly known as prefabs - made of corrugated sheets and asbestos) were erected on 鈥渟pare ground鈥 and some on bombsites - they looked very primitive, but the residents soon made them look homely.
The prefabs were designed to be only a temporary measure - the idea being that they were to be demolished in ten years - however it was only recently that the last remaining ones were pulled down.
The reason rationing stayed after the war was that the ships were lost as a result of the action of the German U-boats destroying the convoys, also causing a severe loss of life.
Lord Woolton (the food minister) kept everything on an even keel, giving priority to the essential foods only, and if any goods were imported, a luxury tax was levied on them. As you are aware, we live on an island, and therefore depend on imports from other countries for a great deal of what we now think of as normal items. We are not self-supporting and this is why the 鈥淒ig for Victory鈥 slogan was such a prominent feature during the war.
One comment I would like to make:
I hope that the younger generations will not have to experience what my age group experienced - the loss of life, injuries, and people being maimed for life.
ALL WARS ARE FUTILE. WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER
It is my belief that the politicians should argue between themselves - let them go off to war and let the innocent live.
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