´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Three Counties Action, on behalf of Thelma Gurney, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

In February 1939, my family which consisted of Mother, Father and four children, myself being the eldest, aged 10 years arrived in Liverpool, England from Toronto, Canad; first settled in Wickersley, Nr Rotherham, Yorks with my maternal Grandmother and Grandfather, then later we got a house in Doncaster, where we walked through the fields in the country. We hardly knew there was a war at all, except my father was directed to Sheffield to work in a munitions factory, he tried to come home at weekends unless he was on air raid duty. My mother also worked in munitions factory.

We did queue for food, which was rationed, and we did have to go from one shop to another when we heard there was food coming in.

My mother got the papers to send us back to Canada to be evacuated, until and evacuation ship was sunk with all children on board, so my mother tore up the papers and we didn’t go back.

We moved to Bradford, Yorkshire and at the age of 16 years, April 1945, I got a job at the Head Post Office in Bradford. I went to the Post Office training school for six weeks and trained to be a Telegraphist. I passed out at 120 words a minute as a touch typist. I typed telegrams including happy and sad occasions, of soldiers being wounded and killed, which were to be received by their next of kin.

I typed telegrams going to Winston Churchill and more important code messages to the War Office, which I believe were then decoded at Bletchley Park, although we didn’t know it at the time, because of the Secrets Act.

Before the war ended we had my Dad’s Mother, Father and Sister repatriated to Bradford who were prisoners of war, sent from Germany to Guernsey, the Channel Islands. They were repatriated to our house by the Red Cross who provided three iron beds and blankets for them to sleep in he front room, until they could go back to Guernsey at the end of the war. Dad’s mother and Father were malnourished.

It was a very happy occasion sending all the congratulations messages to Winston Churchill at the War Office when the war ended, VE day and VJ day; although tinged with sadness because some soldiers never made it and telegrams were still arriving to their relatives — their sons and husbands had been wounded and killed.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.