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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Maggie Smith from WM CSV Action Desk on behalf of Raymond Talbot and has been added to the site with his permission. Raymond Talbot fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

Hello Emily and Duncan 1st August 2005

I hear that you are studying the 2nd World War at school and Grandma Mary has sent you some information, so I thought I would tell you some things that happened to me during that time.

I was 6 years 9 months old when the War started on the 3rd of September 1939 and the Prime Minister announced this dreadful thing on the wireless (that is what we called radio in those days). I was living in Aston, Birmingham at the time with Mother Father and two brothers also a dog called Prince and a cat named Tiddles.

Because no-one knew what weapons the enemy would use we were soon issued with gas masks to protect us - my youngest brother who was only 18 months old had a large container which he could be placed into completely, the rest of the family all had masks that went just over our faces.

Soon we were evacuated (that is being sent to somewhere where it might be safer when the air raids started) to a small town in Leicestershire. Mother did not like it very much there so, after only one week, we returned to Aston where father had stayed because he was on very important work to do with the War Effort.

I am only telling you of things that affected us directly, as after a period of a few months lots of dreadful actions took place but very little happened at home that concerned us. That is until the bombing started. Birmingham in those days was very industrial and would become a prime target for enemy air raids. Air raid shelters were issued to everyone in such places. The one we had was called an Anderson shelter and was erected in our back garden. When we had the warning siren we would rush down to the shelter, and when the air raids became very bad we had to go to bed there night after night for what seemed to me a very long period of time- how long, I do not know for certain. One night it seemed quiet so we went to our normal beds inside the house. What a mistake! The bombers came late and having very good hearing I woke everyone and we went running down the garden. We used to get our priorities right in those days because I remember running down the garden trying to fasten my trousers! Looking up I saw quite clearly a bomber caught in the beam of a search light but we all managed to get to the shelter!

Father had found out that if there was not a secure and strong door fitted to the entrance of the shelter, just the blast of a close bomb could kill us all, so he made one and fitted it-just in time! There was an extremely bad raid and bombs were falling very close and I heard a 鈥渟tick鈥漮f three bombs screaming down towards us and getting nearer. The last of these fell and exploded very near and the door was wrenched off the shelter entrance and flew through the air and went straight into the roof of the house! At the same time a 鈥淭ime Bomb鈥� was dropped on the corner shops on the other side of the house. This was really known as a 鈥淒elayed Action Bomb鈥� which meant that it would not go off until the clock in it triggered the explosion and this was meant to cause as much disruption as possible.

Next morning the Air Raid wardens told us to get out of the house and Mother and Father decided to go on the Tram to the City Centre and then on another Tram to a place called Rubery, on the other side of and right on the edge of Birmingham, where an Aunt had a house. We walked up Victoria Road about a quarter of a mile to Six Ways Aston to catch the first Tram and suddenly there was a very large explosion - the Time Bomb had gone off! Father went back to see what the house was like and it was still standing! And it still is, to this day. We could have been walking passed the shops when the bomb exploded!
We still decided to go to Rubery and on the second Tram, about half way there, the Tram stopped and we had to get off and walk down a country lane to get passed the place in the main road which had been bombed. (Some people do not know that there are country lanes and lots of nice places in and around Birmingham do they? But you do!)

When we got to our Aunty鈥檚 house the one thing I remember was we were given a cup of tea (of course) but my Uncle got into trouble because he had washed the Tea Pot but had not rinsed it out properly, but it was soon put right and we all had a good laugh - the first for some time!

Eventually we rented another house in a suburb called Erdington. It was much more 鈥渕odern鈥� than the one in Aston and it was a nice area. The important thing was that it was in easy bicycle ride for Father for his new job in the Spitfire factory in Castle Bromwich. He made experimental parts for the famous fighter plane and the team of test pilots headed by Alec Henshaw would have these parts fitted to the aircraft and test to see if they where satisfactory in flight. Dad made the sheet metal boxes for containing various components and the boxes had to made to a high grade.

We used to go to Pype Hayes park ,about half a mile walk away , and there we could see the Spitfires being tested over Castle Bromwich Airfield. Sometimes we would hold our breath because the flying was very dangerous and we feared for the pilots鈥� safety! There was a Barrage Balloon in the corner of the park, and one day we saw a very slow plane called a Westland Lysander making its way, low in the sky , across where we playing and we looked on in horror as the tip of the wing touched the cable which was attached to the balloon! The tip broke off and the plane and the two people in it, fell to the ground. There was an explosion and ammunition banging as it hit two houses in Tyburn Road, close to the Tram terminus.

I walked to Paget Road School in Pype Hayes and in that area along the side of the road there were Smoke Screen Machines. These machines were designed to create a smoke screen to hide, from enemy planes, places like Dunlop Tyres and the Spitfire factories. The machines which made the smoke were very smelly and were covered in dirt and oil, but nobody complained - there was a war on!

I have not told you about rationing of food, clothes and other things,also the Blackout, which was to stop the lights from the house showing outside at night, but eventually the war came to an end. One of the things which impressed me was when the first street lights came on - I had forgotten what it was like before the war and it seemed like Fairy Land!

Eventually the Anderson Shelter, we had in Erdington, was taken down and when we were doing it the most enormous spiders appeared and were quickly gobbled up by the hens we kept - we were never short of eggs during the war!

Love from Granpa

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