大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Margaret Daly of Brighton and Hove City Council on behalf of Mrs Violet Tomlins and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

During the "Phoney War" my Dad, who had been a soldier in the 1st World War, volunteered to become a War Reserve Policeman.

On the same day as I left London as an evacuee, he was told to report for duty. His first job was to guard H.M. Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) at a Flower Show at the Horticultural Hall in Horseferry Road.

He went on to serve in A Division Scotland Yard; he met all the important people of the day when he was on duty at 10 Downing Street, including Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill.

He also did night duty outside the King and Queen's bedroom at Buckingham Palace. When the Sergeant wasn't around he would have a crafty fag in the bombed-out swimming pool.

During the Blitz he did fire watching on the Houses of Parliament, and some of his colleagues were killed when it was bombed.

His colleagues were all older men, quite a number were actors and they would fit in appearances at the Whitehall Theatre with their police duties.

He also did traffic duties in Parliament Square, where the bus drivers used to see how near they could get to his toes. However on this duty he met a lot of Yankee soldiers who would give him packets of gum when he told them the history of Big Ben and Parliament, or indeed any part of London; he was very interested in history.

During the Blitz, people were told to tell a Policeman if they saw an unexploded incendiary bomb, and often they would turn up at our door with one in a bucket.

In those days there were no Betting Shops so a bookies' runner would hang around the end of the road and take bets, which was illegal, so the moment my Dad appeared in the street they would scarper.

During the war the Police were all trained to use firearms and they practised on a range in Scotland Yard where they were joined by the King. There was one place where they did have a gun to hand and that was a place called CI site on the Embankment and it was a loaded revolver in a bell-like structure. He showed it to me one day, put the safety catch on and said to me "now fire it". I stood inside the bell with my eyes closed, terrified it would go off and get my Dad in trouble.

As soon as the War in Europe was over and the former policemen were demobbed, the War Reservists were stood down. My Dad was lucky to have this experience as he was 5'2" in his socks and the requirement for Policemen in those days was 6ft.

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