大象传媒

This story was added to the People's War Site by a volunteer from Radio Newcastle on behalf of Donald Gruer. Donald Gruer fully understands the site's terms and conditions and the story has been added to the site with his permission.

"What must be my first war memory is of the sirens going off, and being taken, at night, to a neighbour's Anderson Shelter. My mother, and I assume my the younger of my sisters, joined a number of other ladies and their children inside.

There was water on the floor and I seem to think that we sat on duck-board benches along each side. Having escorted us there my father and the other menfolk went off, I seem to think they were looking for incendiary bombs. A number of the households had buckets of sand and shovels with long handles to neutralise this type of bomb. They also has ARP helmets at some stage by I cannot remember when.

Later, my father was a special constable. Beside looking after the family, my mother also belonged to the WRVS. She and the other ladies helped at what had been the local mental hospital, now being used to treat blue uniformed war casualties.

Everybody did what they could. One of our neighbours took in a lady aqnd her two children who had been evacuated from Dover. I became very friendly with the son. His father was captured and became a prisoner of the Japanese. He survived the camp but had problems on his return to civilian life.

One of the few, but certainly the first, war event that I can reasonably date was the soldiers being billeted with us after Dunkirk (June 1940). I remember them being marched up the street and I think two, possibly three, lived with us for a while. Our home was a three-bedroom semi but early in the war my sister was evacuated for a time, to Retford, so there may have only been four of us living there then. The younger of my sisters and myself slept in a Morrison shelter which was set up in our living room. After the war I was somewhat surprised when my father brought the pieces of a dining table out of the loft and replaced our shelter with this. I did not realised it had been stored up there. Long after the war we had a piece of, by then very dry, chocolate that the soldiers had given us . I recall that they had to turn out every day and march off, returning home in the evening.

One particular exciting event for me as a young lad was provided by the father of one of my friends. We were just coming out of school (Alwoodley) to go home and he was passing by in a Bren-Gun carrier. He and some collegues ahd been testing it on a moor a little further up the road and we were given a lift to the end of our street. Our friends were extremely envious!

Considering all the factories in Leeds that were helping the war effort we were very fortunate that it was not considered a worthwhile target. The only bomb that came anyhwere near where we lived fell in Headingly. They younger of my sisters used to take me there for a music lesson, and on this occassion we found the road was closed off. We were told that a couple had come out of their home to wave some friend off on a tram and they were killed by the single bomb dropped. The tram had moved away so all aboard had escaped.

Because of the shortage of fuel cars were left in the garage and put up on bricks. We used to sit in my friend's father's car and wonder what it would be like to be driven around. One of my school chums's father was a greengrocer and had a car with a trailer so he could collect his produce from the market. On some occassions he would pick us up on the way home from school and we would all hop into the trailer. If we caught a bus it might too have a trailer which was used to fuel it. Some of the cars had a sort of gas tank on top.

Where we lived was, at that time, on the edge of the city - so it could be quite dark with what streetlights there were shaded to avoid helping enemy pilots. White bands were painted around the trees which obstructed the pavement and even my bicycle lamp had a hood. Considering it was rather weak, I think now it was just a gesture. I needed my bike to travel to the church (St. John's, Moor Allerton) where I was in the choir. All buildings had to have blackout and the rail to carry the curtain for the east window there was lower than the top of the centre section. This was permanently blacked out. It was quite a revelation when after the war this was uncovered. I cannot now remember what has been hidden but the completed picture was certainly a surprise to me. After the war I do remember though having to scrape the blast tape from the windows of our home, which was very hard going.

Both my parents hailed from Scotland so pre-war we went there for our holidays, visiting aunts and Grandparents. Now, my father, a highways engineer, had to remain close to his work so early on in the war we had our holidays in a caravan at Addingham, near Ilkley. He would commute for parts of time to this office, which had been relocated to a big country house on the outskirts of the city (Weetwood). We were left to mess about in the river and the local fields. One highlight was a trip to Ilkley and if it was market day we often met a neighbour who had a wet fish stall. This familiar face was appreciated, so was the fact that his wares were not on ration. Because of this wet fish, and fish and chip were a regualr part of our diet. My father also grew many of our vegetables both in out garden and the allotment he acquired. It was just a field when he, and others, took them over. We stripped off the turf and piled it in the corner so it could be repalced at the end of the war. By that time though the pile was covered in grass and the inside had broken down into a lovely loam. Water from the allotment had to be carried some distance, from a spring at the edge of a pond, so was used sparingly. The area is now covered in homes.

We also collected fruit for the hedgerows. Blackberries we still do, but also rosehips to make syrup which we were told was high in vitamin C. Some of our neigbours had gardens of sufficient size to allow them to keep hens. We used to take our vegetable peelings to help feed them and in return a newly laid egg was sometimes our reward. Children's diets were supplemented by orange juice made from a concentrate and malt with cod liver oil. I liked the former by the latter took some swallowing!

Later in the war we retunred to taking our holidays in Scotland and they were quite an adventure. I believe because it was considered to be a safer route, we travelled from Leeds through Settle then along the Waverly Line to Edinburgh. The journey was at night, possibly for the same reason. The trains were very full, mainly with service personnel and their kitbags. At Edinburgh all our bags were searched and placed in separate van. The reasons for this, I was told, was to protect the Forth and Tay Bridges, which we would cross on the next leg of our journey to Aberdeen.

We were not allowed to open our window so could not follow the tradition of trying to throw pennies into the water as we traversed the bridges. Though I has grandparents in Perth and Aberdeen to visit we normally finished up at Braemar where my father's family had lived for hundreds of years . Though the village was quite isolated it had become more busy because of the war. Canadian lumberjacks were brought in and they staretd to fell the pine trees. They initially used these tree trunks to build up wild west style cabins as their accomodation but the main purpose would have been to replace supplies that in the past would have been imported.

Later in the war we did travel there by day and up the east coast line. I recall one occassion when the train was halted abd a flight of fighters took off rather low in front of us.

I had a cousin who was a sergeant pilot, but he went missing somewhere over the North Sea off Holland, we were told. His elder brother, my only other male cousin and combatant, was in the army and at one stage was stationed near Harrogate, so, for a while, we saw quite a lot of him. He was awarded an MC in North Africa, but I cannot remember whether this was before of after this posting.

We had relatives all around the World. My father had a brother in India, and another who had to get out of Malaya and moved to Perth, Australia. He wanted all of us, his family, to go out there for safety's sake, but the offer was rejected. As the Japanese came rather close for comfort they were rahter relieved that they had stayed in the UK. My mother's two brothers had also gone overseas after the First World War, one to South Africa, the other to the states. Some of his work collegues used to send us food parcels, which were much appreciated and caused a great deal of interest with the unusual selection of goods. He himself sent pieces of cloth and these my mother made up into various garments for us. His old Black Watch kilt was also recycled and became my elder sisters dressing gown! My mother also made moccassins and other items using off-cuts of leather from the local tannery. Some of these were sold at bazaars, at one of the local church halls, to raise money for the war effort. This was also helped by entertaining American pilots in our home. They were flying missions over places in Germany, including Berlin. They gave me coins which they had to take with them but foolishly i did not have the wit to keep them but instead they were spent.

Towards the end of the war i recall listening to radio boradcasts direct from one of the planes attacking Helegoland. The wireless was our main means of entertainment but we had magazines, like Picture Post and Illustrated, to keep us in touch with the World outside. Visits most weeks to the Empire Theatre or cinema kept us entertained. The newsreels were an important feature of the programme and any good news from the front would be greated with cheers. Being children we also gave a cheer to the auxiliary firemen who trained on an assault course that was built alongside Stonegate Road for that purpose, that is now under people's gardens.

Amateur productions were also staged. One I recall was held in Leeds (I think it was in New Brunswick Hall, and towards the end of the war) in which my elder sister took part. I remember her being dressed as a sailer and patriotic songs like "Hearts of Oak". I think Britannia appeared at the end.

Shortly after the war ended we had something else to go and see. A tattoo was held at what had been a training college (Beckett Park) but was taken over to house part of the army. The most memorable feature was finally when a number of laundry vans which were in the form of the castle keep (it might have been called the Castle Laundry), drove onto the college quad and dressed up soldiers poured out of the rear doors and came down from the roofs. Just a few years back I was recounting this event to an elderly neighbour, here on Tyneside, and turned it out he had been one of the officers who had organised the event. It was to keep the troops busy before they were discharged. I guess it was also a thank you to local people.

It so happened that we were on Deeside when VJ was announced. We did not know that there was to be anything to mark the occassion so i was packed off to bed. I was roused by my father and was taken beyond the village smithy where a bonfire had been built furhter up the hill. It was very impressive, both in terms of size, its position and because the surrounding area was so dark. I was still quite young and small.

At that time Braemar was the base for training troops who were to be sent to the far east. Mule trains would wind their way through the village with gun carriages, barrel, wheels and ammunation boxes, among other things like food, slung across the animals. The troops were on foot and the officers on horseback, quite a site. They would be away for a few days before returning to their billets, the men to their tents and the officers to a loval hotel (The Fife Arms). It was rumoured that there was so much relief at the announcement of the end of hostilities that some officers, who had been celebrating had managed to take of the mules up in a lift to an upper floor, but I cannot vouch for this. There was certainly a great deal of celebrating of one sort or another!

After the war, large pieces of coal that had been stored away for an emmergency by my mother were uncovered at the back of the house. They did not burn very well as the goodness seemed to have leaked out. We did though enjoy various other items of food she had squirrelled away, including some which had been kept for a celebration. One non food item that had been kept was in the form of two shells which when placed in a glass of water hinged open and a flower emmerged. Looking back that strikes me as being rather symbolic of the World emerging from the war."

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