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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Doreen Bennett on behalf of Mary Yelland, the author, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

RECOLLECTIONS 1939 鈥� 1945

War Time Memories

Born in 1925 鈥� my first memory that we could possibly be soon at war was in August 1939. Staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Redruth during school holidays, we went to the cinema and the film was interrupted with a message asking all members of the Armed Forces to report to their units as war was imminent

It was a chilling moment and I remember thinking 鈥淚 want to go home鈥�. I returned home and on the following Sunday, Mr Chamberlain announced 鈥淲e are now at war with Germany鈥�. How would this affect our lives and how long would it last? So many questions 鈥� but no answers.

Gas masks were issued. Blackouts were enforced and wardens were appointed to make sure no glimmer of light appeared. School hours were cut to 9.45am to 3.15pm to avoid traveling in the dark.

In a short time the Home guard was formed with, at first, virtually no weapons 鈥� their main duties being to keep watch at all the main vantage points in the area. I remember one night in particular, when my father (who had served in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Tank Corp in the WW1 and was now the Captain of 鈥楢鈥� Company, 5th Battalion Home Guard) was called out to help organize the confiscating of farm machinery that was available to block all country lanes as it was thought the Germans were about to invade. This did not happen but all sorts of stories circulated about what happened in the English Channel that night, but no one ever knew.

Eventually more weapons became available to the Home Guard 鈥� rifles, Sten guns, grenades and Molotov cocktails. I was aware of this as I was now doing two jobs. The first being secretary to 鈥楢鈥� Company and the second 鈥� I was co-opted (because of a teacher shortage with so many men going into the forces) to teach at the local school which had now been taken over by the LCC for evacuees from London and Bristol.

The number of evacuees varied, they came and went depending on how severe the bombing was in their home towns and cities, but some children remained throughout the war and some never went back preferring to make their home with the people who had cared for them through the war years.

Despite the image some people might have had of the Home Guard they eventually became a very efficient military unit. The vast knowledge of people, who had brave and illustrious careers in the armed forces, brought their expertise to ensure the efficiency of their units. The men were very dedicated and after they had completed their days work, they would get into uniform and attend training course, guard duties, weapon training and at week-ends target practice on the shooting range at Trenarren Head.

Housewives joined the WRVS and started soup kitchens etc. I personally took a course in First Aid and Home Nursing and joined the Fire Guard, where in the evenings we donned tin hat and dungarees and trained with stirrup pumps to learn how to deal with incendiary bombs. I also ran a National savings Group selling saving stamps and certificates and joined in schemes like 鈥楾o Buy a Spitfire鈥� and collected for the Red Cross.

Food rationing came into force and anyone who had a little space at the end of their garden opted to keep a few chickens so as to have fresh eggs rather than the dried egg which was on offer. If you had a shed in the garden it was possible to keep two pigs 鈥� one to sell and one to eat. Each village had a 鈥榩ig club鈥� which you joined in order to get sufficient food for the animals. People also ensured they had fresh vegetables in their gardens. All this helped to substitute the food shortage.

By now, anyone who had any beds to spare were hosts to as many evacuees as they could sleep 鈥� some took families with five children. It was a sad time for the children, away from their families and a completely different life style for their hosts 鈥� many people had never had children of their own. Bombings had started and the big cities were getting nightly attacks and from our house I remember seeing the terrible raids on Plymouth, we could see the reflection of the burning oil storage depots from Mid Cornwall on one of the city鈥檚 worst raids. Nowhere in the country was safe from attack.

On 7 August 1942 a friend and I cycled into Bodmin and I bought a signet ring in Brookers the jewellers in Fore Street and then we left for home. We were walking up the hill at Laninval when we heard a terrible crash. I sensed it was a bomb being dropped in Bodmin and my friend and I threw our bicycles into the middle of the road and lay in a ditch on the side of the road. I heard the roar of planes and looked up to see two German planes approaching across St Lawrence Hospital grounds with machine guns blazing. I also saw the Iron Crosses, the Swastikas and the German pilots. The machine guns were firing all the way and the planes were at tree top height 鈥� bullets were bouncing on the road. When they had gone we grabbed our bicycles and ran up the hill. A lorry driver at the top of the hill had seen it all and could not imagine where we had been. Sadly a young lad working in the Primrose Dairy was killed and the home of the Sargeant family was destroyed causing serious injuries. I still have the signet ring as a poignant reminder of that day.

American soldiers (Yanks) were all around preparing for D Day and at one point it was not possible to go from Bugle to Roche because of road blocks at Carbis Bridge and this was the case in many places. Truck loads of Yanks were brought to the Bissa River at Bugle, where tents had been erected and water pumped direct from the river for their regular showers and baths.

I think the most touching and poignant times were when husbands and sweethearts (as they were tenderly called then) had to join their units again after being on leave. Railway station platforms became a place of high emotion, as one never knew how long it would be before the next meeting, if ever!

I have remembered my feelings on these occasions with a little poem entitled 鈥淲artime Memories鈥�. Fortunately my sweetheart came safely home, we then got married and have enjoyed over 50 very happy years together.

WARTIME MEMORIES

The morning lacks its splendour as clouds gather overhead
There鈥檚 a strange uncanny feeling as we rise early from our beds
We must get to the station for the early morning train
The dawn is slowly breaking and now it starts to rain

We reach the station platform and laid from end to end
There are blue and khaki kit bags stretching right around the bend
Wives and sweethearts stand in groups, not knowing what to say
Wishing that their loved ones did not have to go away

The silence now is broken as the train steams up the track
We know the prayer in every heart is 鈥� please soon bring him back
The doors are slammed 鈥� the train pulls out and eyes are wet with tears
Reflecting on the love and joy shared with the passing years

But always there is hope and trust and deep within those hearts
They know that in the future, when that darkened cloud departs
The sun will shine, the clouds will pass and rainbows clear the rain
And in the brighter future 鈥� surely we shall meet again

My lasting memory of the war years was the wonderful community spirit; people would help whatever the situation. People gave strangers lifts in their cars; we could always go out in safety even in the blackout. Children could play outside without fear and people looked after the elderly with love and care.

War is a terrible occurrence and we never want it to happen again 鈥� so many losses and tears 鈥� but all those who can remember will try and look back at the good times 鈥� the romance, dancing to top bands with wonderful music (the Red Feathers Dance Band, being a section of the DCLI Military Band being very popular) but above all the spirit that if we all stuck together and helped each other, we would win through. AND WE DID.

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