大象传媒

As a girl of fourteen, I listened to the speech of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlaine as he told us that we were now at war with Germany. I felt sorry for him as he had tried so hard to avoid this happening, but there seemed to be no stopping Hitler whose armies were invading all the smaller countries around Germany. Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia fell to the very well prepared German forces. It was obvious they were out to conquer all of Europe and so together with France, Belgium and Holland, we were to put an end to this invasion.

This was my father's answer to my question of why there had to be war.

It was all happening far away from Cardiff where I lived with my family, so I wasn't very interested - at first!

The first signs that we were aware of were - our front gate and railings disappeared along with those of our neighbours and the railings enclosing the park directly in front of our house. All iron gates and railings were taken to be melted down and used to make weapons. We were advised to put sticky paper tape on all our windows to stop the glass from shattering into small pieces when the bombs fell. Also we had to have thick curtains that would keep the light in after dark. Gas masks were issued to everyone, to be carried at all times. The masks for small children were in the shape of Mickey Mouse, but still very ugly and uncomfortable. My little sister had one and we were thankful that she never had to wear it! Street lamps were no longer lit after dark and all road signs disappeared. Air raid shelters were delivered to every household. There were two types, the Anderson shelter for houses with gardens and the Morrison shelter where there were no gardens. We had an Anderson type which my father put together in our back garden and then dug an enormous hole so that the shelter was almost under the ground. The Morrison shelter was like a cage with a re-inforced steel top that would withstand the force of a house falling on it. As it was only about two feet high it must have been very miserable for the people who had to crawl into it and lie down, but many lives were saved by both types of shelter. Months went by and nothing happened. People were calling it the "phoney" war. All the young men disappeared into the Forces and Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.

I left school and my first job was in a large grocery shop (no Super-markets in those days. Food rationing was introduced and I remember how people laughed when they first saw their rations:-

2 ounces butter)
4 ounces margarine)
2 ounces cheese) per week
half pound of sugar)
2 ounces tea)

1 lb jam per month
7d (old pennies) worth of meat per week.

All other items of food were allocated as fairly as possible. German U-boats (Submarines), were sinking ships bringing imported foods so we had to rely on our farmers for the necessities. Luxury things like bananas, grapes, oranges disappeared completely. We had dried eggs and whale meat (awful!). But we never went humgry. Babies were given orange juice and cod liver oil. My mother used to go to the local pig factory and queue for sausages, liver, kidneys, tripe which were not rationed and my father had an allotment where he grew all the vegetables we needed.

In January 1940 the air raids began. The sirens sounded and we all descended into the shelter (except Dad who stayed outside wearing his hard hat and giving us a commentary!). Soon we heard explosions as bombs fell in the distance, probably in the Docks area and then came an ominous deep throbbing sound like an express train coming down, followed by an almightly crash which rocked our little shelter and we were all terrified. The bomb had fallen near the Cathedral just half a mile away and the Spire fell into the enormous crater. That was the first and most frightening of the many bombs which fell on our City that night. Eventually the bombers who had survived the raid flew back to their bases and we were very relieved to hear the "All Clear" on the sirens and we were able to go back to our comfortable beds. Night after night we spent in the shelter, it became our way of life. Small comforts like hot water bottles, flasks of hot drinks and lots of blankets were taken down to keep out the bitter cold. Despite the fear, lack of sleep and the cold there were lighter moments. One I recall was when an incendiary (fire) bomb went through the roof of the flat above the local Post Office. It landed on a feather bed. Firemen formed a chain with buckets of water from the nearby canal. When they emerged after putting out the fire, they looked like a flock of chickens! Feathers from the bed were stuck fast to their uniforms which had frozen!

The war went on with nightly raids for us but much worse was happening across the English Channel where German armies had invaded France. They set up bases along the French coast and made it much easier for their planes to bomb us. London was the main target of the "Blitz". Most of the children had been evacuated to the Country but the suffering, loss of lives and devastation was horrendous.

My brother, (Bob Price), went into the army when he reached eighteen and, being a talented musician, he was lucky enough to be chosen to form a dance band. (It was of course, in addition to his training as a Soldier). They played in concerts and at dances in army camps in this Country and in North Africa where our soldiers were fighting the Germans in the desert.

Back home the bombing went on and in addition we were getting day time raids by fighter planes, machine gunning people in the streets. I remember seeing these planes and lying flat on the ground as instructed. It was very frightening. Looking back now it seems very stupid to lie down to avoid being shot, as surely we made bigger targets lying down! Well we survived but not many of those daylight raiders did. They were shot down by Spitfires and Hurricanes of the R. A. F.

I think Auntie Violet deserves a place in my memories as her awful experience gave the family a good laugh. She was the snobbish wife of my mother's brother, Uncle Steve. They lived in a posh house in a fashionable suburb. But bombs are no respecters of posh houses and a land mine dropped near the house. These land mines were timed to explode some time after landing but as this time was unknown, everyone in the area had to leave their homes very quickly. Not so Auntie Violet. Despite all the shouting by Air Raid Wardens, Bomb Disposal Officers and Uncle Steve, she calmly went upstairs and packed a suitcase with all her finery and came down wearing her precious fur coat! "You won't need a fur coat where you're going Missus, if you don't hurry up," they yelled as she marched off down the road, the last one to leave her home! Thanks to those very brave Bomb Disposal people who de-fused the land mine Auntie Violet was able to march back again a few hours later. But she kept her case packed and fur coat at the ready for a long time!

I left the grocery shop after passing an exam to become a telegraphist at the General Post Office and found it most interesting and much more fun than doling out rations of food. There were girls of my own age and a few young men, one of whom was to become my Husband, much later. After a short time we went out together once a week usually on Sundays to a concert, but just when we were really getting to know and like each other, he had to go into the Army. After that we could only meet when he managed to get leave, usually a short weekend and not very often. The air raids were not so frequent as time went on and the Post Office asked for volunteers to swap places with colleagues in London for a month to give them a rest. I went with a group of friends and we had a great time. The blitz was still on but we were accomodated in the deep basement of the Post Office and couldn't hear any bombs. We went out every evening to Cinemas and Lyons Corner Houses, where there did not appear to be any shortage of food. One film I remember seeing was "National Velvet". Elizabeth Taylor's first film. She was twelve years old! The Londoners we met were very cheerful nice people, despite the awful times they had to live through. Some and lost their homes and some relatives but carried on bravely. It made us realise how lucky we were.

After we returned home there were many changes taking place. Hospitals were full of wounded soldiers, the ones who could go out were to be seen on crutches in blue uniforms and we worried about my brother and my boy friend. We didn't know were they were at that time. In town there were men in uniform everywhere, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Americans started to appear. There were many fights, mainly over girls! The Americans seemed rich compared with our Servicemen and were able to offer girls nylon stockings (unheard of in wartime Britain) and chocolates. I saw a fight one evening when I was waiting for the bus to take me home after work. Two Soldiers, one British and one American went through the plate glass window of a shop. I was glad to get away from that scene.

As time went on the uniforms disappeared, apart from some route marches by the Americans which seemed very funny to us because they wore soft soled shoes so there was no sound when they marched - unlike our Soldiers in their army boots! Then they were all gone and we waited for the next phase of the war. I got to know quite a lot about preparations for D-Day, but couldn't tell anyone due to the Official Secrets Act. It was fascinating work and we felt quite important as we sent and received vital information on our teleprinters. There were also very sad telegrams about the death in action of our servicemen. Many ships were sunk, Soldiers killed in France and airmen shot down. But German casualties were much heavier than ours and I thought how senseless war is. I might have thought differently had we been invaded.

After many months of preparation the combined forces of Britain and America, together with French, Polish, Dutch and Belgians who had managed to get to England, set off for the French coast. D-Day had arrived. So much has been written about this magnificent operation that I will not attempt to recall it, all we knew was what we heard on the radio. It lifted our spirits but was mixed with anxiety for all those young men taking part, my boyfriend and my brother, we guessed, were among them. Many brave men were killed and wounded during the landings but footholds were gained and at last we were able to start liberating Europe. The landings went on for weeks and more and more wounded Soldiers came back. We waited anxiously for news. Many weeks went by before I received a letter from somewhere in France. With great relief I learned that my Fiance was O.K. We had made tentative plans to be married on his next leave, but had no idea when that would be. Some weeks later we heard that my brother too, was safe in Egypt.

The armies pushed on liberating all of France, Belgium and Holland and on into Germany, but it took a long time. At last I received a letter in April, 1945 telling me that my Fiance was coming home on seven days leave in a few weeks time and hoped that our wedding could be arranged! Everyone rallied round, family and friends helped and a lovely two-tier cake was a great surprise present. All we needed was the Bridegroom who turned up on 7th May. We were married on V.E. Day and what a wonderful day it was for us all - a double celebration.

These memories were written by Tess in 1995, for her daughter to read to the primary school children she was teaching when we celebrated the 50th Anniversay of V.E. Day. (It was also of course, Tess and Bob's Golden Wedding Anniversay)
Bob passed away May 20th 2000, having sought in vain for his best old army friend known to us only by the name of KEV. Tess passed away November 18th 2003. These memories are submitted by the family as a lasting tribute to them both but especially Tess, who wrote them.

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