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This story was submitted to the site by Helen Hughes of the People's War team in Wales on behalf of William John and has been added to the site with his permission.

When the war started I was seven and can remember them building the shelters in all the school ground….but if a bomb dropped I doubt they’d be much good as they weren’t below ground. You could hear the sirens going and seeing the German planes going over. I can remember my father going out with the fire service on the mountain to find where a Spitfire had crashed and then another one then a Beaufighter had crashed with a French crew on. My father was a miner…and done part time fire service. I can remember D-day when all the planes flew over — and all the planes flying around the valleys. German planes flying up through the valleys to Pontypridd and firing away at people. I was fired at once…but my father grabbed me out of the doorway and pushed me out of the way. I saw the Heinkel flying up from Cardiff - a beautiful sunny day like today - firing at everybody as he was flying up through the Valleys. You could see him sitting there firing and my father pushed me out of the way.
I remember the rationing and the darkness with the blackout. You’d come home in the evening and there were no lights on. Everything had to be dark, everything had to be covered up. With the food rationing, everybody helped. I know my father had extra rations because he was a mineworker. Sometimes as a boy we felt excited….what a great sight it was seeing all the planes flying over for d-day.

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