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This story has been written onto the ����ý People’s War site by CSV Storygatherer Louise Smith behalf of Maggie Allen. The story has been added to the site with their permission and Maggie Allen fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

As young children, my brother and I spent the last years of the war living in the Royal Marines Barracks, Stonehouse, where our father was serving as Quarter Master Instructor in the gymnasium and, though the barracks suffered direct hits, we probably experienced a more enjoyable war than most children. We has the run of the outdoor areas, such as the Longroom (where my brother and the other boys living in the Staff Quarters built a ganghut in a tree) and Eastern Kings, where we played in the commando training area. There was also an anti-aircraft gun emplacement there, manned by US Army troops, who would call us over and give us chewing gum, ‘candy’ and American comics, which my brother traded at school for sweets (he says he got most for Captain Marvel). They sometimes gave us tins of fruit too, which were quite a rarity at that time. Although I worried about the sound of airplanes droning above at night time, we basically felt very secure within the barracks and it was the only life I knew, so when my father left the service after the war ended and we moved into a house in St Budeaux, I was very concerned that there was no sentry on the gate to protect us!

We both attended St Georges school, then situated on a street running parallel to Emma Place, and as it was so close to the barracks and Millbay Docks, the area around it suffered bomb damage and we kids used to play on the bombsites. My brother collected the shrapnel, while I picked the roses which still bloomed in the midst of the ruins, and took them home to my mother.

On VE Day we all sat by the radio to hear the announcement that war had ended and I thought “Oh good, no more news”, as we’d always has to sit absolutely silent while our parents listened to the latest reports on the war, which I found very tedious. Everyone was happy and planning celebrations and US Navy friends of my father turned up in a Jeep and drove us children into town and up around the Hoe, where people were dancing and singing, and couples were lying on the grass. I remember wondering why people were going to sleep in the middle of the day…

It was just as well we enjoyed that time, because, sadly, my father died two years later as a result of his war service, so I remember it particularly fondly, being the only period in my life when all members of our family were together and happy. In that respect we suffered as badly as everyone else.

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