大象传媒

Childhood memories of an old Norfolk boy of WW2 by Alan-Arthur

I lived in the Village of Old Buckenham Norfolk and went to the new, Old Buckenham Area School which was opened just before the war started. The Headmaster was Mr Twiddy.
I was six at the time the war started, I would not have really understood what was going on but I remember us children all being in the kitchen with our Mother when my Father came home. He had been
down the road to listen to a friends wireless as we never had one, he said the war had started, I seem to remember everyone being quiet, us children would not have known then what it really meant but I learnt
later in life that my father had lost a brother in WW1. He would have been my Uncle Charles, so I would
imagine my parents would have been very worried at another war starting so soon after the first world war.
It must have been soon after this I remember standing on Old Buckenham Green with other people near the Old School, watching the arrival of the evacuees. I can鈥檛 remember how many buses
there were but I think there was more than one. I expect they came by train to Attleborough station and
then by bus to the village, I think I can remember the teachers were helping to get them sorted out also
I think it was said some of them had to stay in the old school over night, (I can鈥檛 confirm this)
These children were so different from us country kids, we could not understand each other for a start,
after a while we got used to each other, I don鈥檛 remember any problems, I do know ever since the war
some who were evacuated down here have revisited the area ,so a lot of friendships were created also I have a brother-in-law who was an evacuee and he never went back.
We were all issued with gas masks, we had to be sure and take them to school with us everyday.
occasionally a van would come to our school, each class would have to go and put our gas masks on and go into this van which had some sort of gas inside, I suppose it was to test them, I know the person inside would tell us to just to lift the side of our masks we would get a whiff of this gas, some of the children were a bit scared but most of us thought it was a bit of fun. Also at school each class was allocated an area of the school to go to if there was an air raid warning, I remember mine was in the boys cloakroom. Windows had tape criss-crossed over them to help to stop them shattering. I can鈥檛 remember any damage done to any properties in the village due to enemy raids
At home we all had blackouts which we had to put in the windows to make sure no lights were showing at night, as the ARP wardens would be round and shout, 鈥� put that light out鈥�.
Another thing I remember early in the war, before the Home Guard , there were cards in some
windows with L D V displayed, this meant that the man living there was a Local Defence Volunteer which later changed to the Home Guard. 鈥�.
One sad event in the village I remember was that we had for a time a small company of soldiers
camped on the green near the Grange, the army vehicles were under the trees for camouflage, there was an army dispatch rider with this company and he had a fatal accident on his motorcycle in the village. We came out of school one afternoon to see soldiers carrying the flag draped coffin from a house in 鈥� Rod Alley Row鈥� where I think this soldier had been billeted. He must have been from Scotland because there was a Scottish Piper in full dress playing the pipes. They placed the coffin on a gun carriage. I can鈥檛 remember if the bearers were wearing kilts, they slowly piped him out of the village. I expect they took the coffin to Attleborough Station to go by train back to his homeland up north. It was quite a sight for us Norfolk children to watch but very sad for the soldier and his family.
My mate and me were in the harvest field on Mr Walker鈥榮 farm in the village one summer it must have been the early part of the war. The farmer had been cutting the corn with a binder( no combines in those days). They had just finished cutting, we were watching them packing up the machine when other men working in the field setting up the sheaves of corn came running and shouting towards us. A German aeroplane had dropped an incendiary bomb which had started a fire in the stubble behind where we were standing. The fire was quickly dealt with by the men. I remember one man stepped it out as it was only a few yards from a stack of corn. My mate鈥檚 older brother was one of the farm workers and he found the tail fin of this bomb later that year when he was cleaning out the ditch. He kept this as a souvenir. I visited the family some years after the war and he still had this tail fin which had the German markings on it.
There were all sorts of events in the village to raise money for the war effort. I joined the Cubs and we use to go round collecting waste paper etc. In the carpentry classroom at the school the carpentry teacher Mr Honeywood and senior boys would make graphs to show how much money was being raised. I remember one had a model of an aeroplane on with a target and as the money came in the plane would be moved on towards the target. This was erected on the village green for all to see.
As I got older I had my first bicycle. It was a girls bike as you had what you could get in those days! I must have done miles on that bike. if there were plane crashes or any event I would be there to see what was going on. I am sure we never realised the danger when we were kids.
One day I was out and about in the village when I heard there had been a day light raid by German planes on Attleborough a small town about 3 miles from Old Buckenham and that Gaymers Cider Factory had been hit. I went home to tell my Mum and on the way I saw our Sunday school teacher Mr Barker working in his garden. I stopped and told him the news. He quickly went to his house and then got his bycicle and set off in quite a hurry towards Attleborough. I expect I went home told my Mum and then I set off to go to Attleborough too. On the way there I was cycling up Stimpson鈥檚 Hill when I met Mr Barker coming home with his daughter Audrey who was an office girl at Gaymers Factory. I can remember them smiling saying, 鈥淗ello Alan鈥�. I was not old enough then to realise the man鈥檚 anxiety to know whether his daughter was safe. I arrived at the scene of the bombing to see fire engines, fire hoses over the road, firemen running about. I can鈥檛 remember if there were any casualties in this incident neither can I remember my journey home so I expect it was uneventful.
An air field was built on the outskirts of the village in Abbey Road. I would guess it was about 1942-43 when the Americans arrived with their Liberator Bombers. Village life was quite noisy from then on.
In the mornings all the bombers would take off and join up with planes from other airfields around the area. There were quite a lot round East Anglia, some had the Fortress Bombers. The skies would be full of these planes preparing to go on raids over Germany. One morning we had not been in school long when there was a massive explosion which really shook the school. Two of these planes had collided in mid-air. Everyone just ran from their classrooms ( I was a junior in Miss Gotts class). Children and teachers were all in the playground, we could see parts of these planes were falling from the sky which was a shock for us all, especially the teachers who had to try and settle the children down . It being an area school there were several hundred children that attended it. The crash site was only about a mile from our school, fortunately in open country side.
I think it was early one Sunday morning we were still in bed and there was a big explosion. I got dressed quickly, got my bike and went to see what had happened. We lived the Banham side of the village so it was between 1 to 2 miles to the airfield. What had happened was one of the planes had crashed on take off right across Abbey Road, all the American rescue service were there dealing with the situation.
We would see the Liberator Bombers returning to base those that had survived the missions later in the day and during the school holidays we would watch from the road beside the airfield, you could see where some of the planes had been hit by enemy gunfire, pieces were missing some would have engines stopped etc. As some of them came in to land they would shoot out coloured flares. I think this indicated they had wounded on board because we could see ambulances rushing around. As young children we didn鈥檛 realise what these young men were going through at the time.
In the village we got on very well with the American servicemen, they would give us chewing gum, sweets they called candy. We use to say, 鈥済ot any gum chum鈥� some of the Americans would say, 鈥渉ave you got a sister mister鈥� as they would be looking for girlfriends. We were too young to understand then!. I remember once an American asked me where the pubs were in the village. I told him I would show him, so I cycled round with him but he was out of luck as they all had signs up saying, 鈥漵orry no beer鈥�. I being only a child then, I don鈥檛 know whether it was the influx of the Americans or general wartime shortages that caused the pubs to run out of beer.
The Americans gave all us children a party on their camp. I think it was Christmas time but my memory is a bit faded on this, as to how we all got there etc. The American鈥檚 living quarters were off the Attleborough road which is quite along way from our village. Also I remember an occasion when an American serviceman brought a truck to Mr Hedleys farm near where I lived to help to gather in the harvest. My mate and me rode round with him all day which was good fun. We loved anything like that. In the war years there were very few vehicles about so it was a treat if we could get a ride in one.
Our school fostered relations with some black Americans who I think were based at Snetterton airfield. I believe their task on the base was transporting bombs and amunition and loading the same to the planes (I can鈥檛 confirm this) . At our school a black American Padre use to come and visit us. He was a big man with an even bigger smile. I remember on one occasion he brought his men and they sang on stage in front of the whole school in the assembly hall what we now know as Gospel Songs. They also showed us how to play base ball on the school field. We loved all of this. On one visit to the school there was just the Padre and his driver. He was talking to us just as school was finished for the day so I asked him if he would give us a ride home in his truck as I new they would go past my house on the way back to their base. He said yes but they would wait just over the green for us just around the corner. This they did so myself and a school mate climed into the truck and got a ride home. We were innocent kids then and we did not realise this could have got him into serious trouble. I have never forgotten this very kind Padre who was a truly nice man.
I suppose it would be around 1943 when we had lots of army convoys coming into our area. I expect it was the preparation and build up for D Day. This went on for some time which we loved to watch rumble through the village. There was everything from tanks, brengun carriers, trucks loaded with soldiers, big field guns, and dispatch riders etc. This was all very exciting for us children to see but I suspect it was the last days spent in England for a lot of those lads, sadly. One convoy I remember stopped for the night on Wilby Warren so my mate and me went to see them there. Some soldiers were making large coppers of drinking chocolate and they gave us a mug full each which was delicious!
Also for a while there was a search light battery stationed just off the road between our village and Banham. We would see the beams from these all around sky at night searching for enemy aircraft if there was a raid on.
During the latter part of the war we saw Italian prisoners of war taken by truck to work on farms etc and I remember a truck with about twenty came to the farm where my father worked to hoe the crops. They wore rust coloured battle dress with bright coloured patches on the back and legs. There was a civillian driver and a soldier with a rifle. I believe there was a POW camp at East Harling Norfolk, ( I can鈥檛 confirm this). On this farm where my father worked there was one Italian POW and I am sure he lived there for quite a while as he was always working round the farm when I went there in the school holidays. He was quite a friendly chap and I was never scared of him - just could not understand what he was saying! One day the farmer鈥檚 wife gave me a really big apple for me to take home so my Mum could bake me an 鈥淎pple Jack鈥�. I put this apple in a cart in the shed near my bike for when I went home. The Italian found my apple which he split it in two with his hands and give me half with a smile! I didn鈥檛 smile as it was my apple for my 鈥淎pple Jack鈥�. Anyway, those on the farm laughed at this when I told them what had happened and they gave me another apple so all was well!
We were quite fortunate through the war years where we lived as we didn鈥檛 have any real damage done . I do remember there were two land mines dropped just outside New Buckenham which was the next village to ours but my memory is a bit faded on this but I think some buildings were damaged. I went to Norwich which was only about fifteen miles from our village, with some friends just before the war ended and we were shocked to see the devastation caused by the enemy bombing.
Sadly I had to leave the village where I spent the war years in 1945. I lost my parents my Father died from injuries received from an accident in February 1945, my Mother had suffered poor health for sometime , she died on VE day. After this I went to live with my Uncle and Aunt at Garboldisham on the Norfolk / Suffolk border.

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