大象传媒

My birth took place in April 1936,this making me 3 1/2 years old when War was declared.There are no memories of this period,but the beginnings of the Blitz are quite strong.We,my father,mother and myself lived in a semi-detached house at 31 Selwyn Road, New Malden.A step brother,Tony,from my fathers first marriage,was serving in the Army.My father was a Sub editor on "The Scotsman",having been asked to stay on for the duration of hostilities,despite being almost 66.He had served in WW 1.as a military policeman.He had to sleep in the cellar of" The Scotsman"building in Feet St.during the worst periods of the nightly bombing raids.At one raid,a german Heinkel bomber crash landed by the gasometer at Motspur Park,fortunately without any explosion.We used to collect shrapnel and parts of incendary bombs,each trying to outdo the others at school.Once the Luftwaffe tried to get Eisenhower , who was living at the time nearby,adjacent to Bushy Park US Army base,laying a line of bombs from Tolworth towards Kingston upon Thames,via New Malden.The local shop belonging to Freddy Say (Says) was gutted , a bomb falling on South Lane , at the junction with Green Lane. I remember his sister,who was a landgirl , clearing up the bomb damage , happy that there were no casualties in the family.Another bugalow ,in South Lane , had a direct hit from a incendary bomb.It penetrated the roof , but was soon rendered harmless. On visits to New Malden , I still see were it went in , but now , it is a very tastefully leaded window.In this raid a few windows in our house were blown out , and the house almost backing on to ours ,was just a pile of rubble.After a couple of months,my mother was getting rather nervous,so my father found a cottage to rent in Swayfield ,a village in Lincolnshire.It was very strange for a suburban boy from London, to start at the local school,where all the children were in the same room.But ,we had great fun helping the farmers , mainly feeding cattle and harvesting.The village had a large pig(at least to my eyes),which was fed by everyone.When the time came to have it slaughtered , we had a day free from school!But all the kids were very sad to it go.My Mother and I recieved the tongue and some really delicious sausages.Once a week a bus would come to take the villagers to the next town for the Wednesday market.Then ,the War Office decided to build an aerodrome nearby , which resulted in german warplanes bombing nightly.So much for the peace and quiet of the countryside.So ,it was back to Surrey,but within a month we were informed that my school was to be evacuated to Hoyland,a mining village in Yorkshire.My mother took me up to the St Pancras station in London.I had a brown label with,I suppose , name and number on it,plus the box with my the gas mask.
All that I can remember from the journey,was that it took quite a long time and that we were very thirsty,getting our first drink at Sheffield,a very watery milk.Still,it did the trick!On arrival at Hoyland , very kind people met us at the station ,and we were taken to the village hall ,to be allocated to various families.I was to be with Mr and Mrs Parr,who lived at 28 Kirk Balk , They had two children,a son whose name I have sadly forgotten and daughter,Minnie,who was married to a Polish airman,unfortunately a POW,after being shot down.I had a very enjoyable time there,as my cousin , Peter Aldred,was also living with one of the many miners in the village.We soon became used to seeing the black faces returning from their very long shifts.At the school we were in classes according to age,so it was easy to pick up the lessons,with friends like Maureen Foley and cousin Peter .The moors was nearby,and we used to enjoy wonderful treks across this beautiful part of the world.My parents came to visit me once during this time.It was great to see them again.The War was not very far away however,as we could see the night sky alight, as the Germans bombed Hull and other ports.
As the bombing raids in London were now becoming less heavy ,my parents decided to bring me back to London,just in time for the first "Doodlebugs",The V1 rocket, that Germany had developed.I can remember my Mother taking me out to see the long tail flames in the night sky.In the house , we now had a morrison shelter,a very solid thing that served also as a table.We used to sit in it,listening to the roaring heavy sound of their engines,then after they had shut off,waiting for the blast.I also remember D-Day very clearly.I was standing in the garden watching hundreds of aeroplanes going over,many with the very large gliders in tow.My Mother told me to pray for soldiers and airman on this day.We did.Other memories are of listening to live broadcast of the crossing of the Rhine.Very soon , the V2`s started to arrive,these without any warning,and a few houses in the area were destroyed.It meant that I was not allowed to play any further than the end of the road!German POW`s where being used to clear up bomb damage and repairing roads,with large diamond shaped patches on their uniforms.At the end of the road was a large bin for "pigfood",all kitchen waste was deposited here.All to help the war effort.At this time , there was a Scarlet fever epidemic,which resulted in my mother and I being admitted to Tolworth hospital.I was kept there for about 6 weeks,at nights sleeping in the cellars,which were transformed into temporary shelters.Just as I was to be discharged,Chicken Pox struck,this resulted in my being moved to another area at the hospital,I also developed swollen glands.An interesting case for the Doctors.I was finally sent home,and I remember my father saying that it was clear that the War was not going to last much longer, and, when VE day came,there was a celebration party and bonfire at the end of the road.
My father,who came originally from Freshwater,on the Isle of Wight,decided he wanted to visit his family,so we took the train to Portsmouth,and the ferry to Ryde.On the crossing ,we saw an U boat and german ship coming in to surreder with the white flags flying,it was a very impressive sight for a young boy.We also visited Farringford,the family home of Alfred Lord Tennyson,the Poet Laureate,where my father,started out as a house boy before moving to London to follow a career as journalist. Back in New Malden,a few months later
the newspapers carried the news of the first Atomic bomb on Hiroshima,followed by Nagasaki,causing the surrender of Japan.
VJ day came,we had an even bigger bonfire,we made torches out of old rags,and just before the fire was ignighted,a car that was speeding down the road,went out of control and turned over.The passengers were taken out treated by the grown ups,we were more interested in the large pool of oil that emerging from under the car.This made our torches burn more fiercely. The forces started to come home ,First of all were the P.O.W`s, then ,slowly, the rest of the armed forces. My step- brother came back at the end of 1946 ,he was stationed in Holland at the end of the war.Our family were very lucky,as we did not have any losses in the armed forces.The only terrible thing to happen,was the sad loss of a boyfriend of my Auntie Doris . He was a Special Policeman on air raid duty,unfortunately killed in a nightime raid in 1940. Christopher.C.Mitchell. 2004.

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