大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Dorothy Elgar. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was 9 years old when the Second World War began. I lived in a small village called Leintwardine - it is on the borders of Shropshire, Herefordshire and at that time Radnorshire. It was a rural area with farming the only industry. I attended the village school which catered for children from 5 years to 14 years. I remember the Gas masks being issued and the horrible rubbery smell; the boys liked breathing heavily and making rude noises. There were no air-raid shelters in the village and the school children practised air-raid drill by taking our gas masks and going into the fields at the back of the school and hiding in the hedgerow. We thought it was great fun. I remember the strips of paper being put on the windows to prevent the glass shattering and the blackout curtains.
We had evacuees from Parkstone in Dorset and some from Liverpool. We looked on them as oddities but they soon fitted in. We hadnt room for any as there weren't any spare rooms. I was the youngest of 5 children but quite soon my eldest brother joined the Airforce and later my eldest sister joined the WAAF.
The next sister went to Ludlow High School and had to board there. The nearest bombs were at Craven Arms about 8 miles from us. They didnt do much damage as it was thought that they were off loaded when the plane was on its way home. Hereford was the nearest major target as there were Munition factories there. They were bombed and one day a plane came over low and people thought it was one of ours and started waving until it machine gunned the factory. I dont know if there was any loss of life.
There is a bridge over the river Teme on one side of the village and large concrete rolls like oil barrels were put on our side of the bridge supposedly to block the bridge if necessary. I remember convoys of army lorries going through the village and a large house was requisitioned by the army. Later it was used by the American soldiers. They gave us gum and my father invited some for a meal and that was the first time I saw a teabag.
We were lucky with food, growing our own fruit and vegetables. My father kept a pig and when it was killed the meat was distributed between neighbours and friends who reciprocated when they killed theirs. Some meat was salted for bacon and some rendered down for lard. So we were better off than many people. We saved our dried fruit for a cake at Christmas and made mock almond paste with Semolina. I quite liked the dried egg, also Spam, although we did have fresh eggs from our neighbour.
We listened to the radio. My father liked Itma and The Man in Black - we werent allowed to hear that. There were plays in the Village Hall and Dances. I wasnt able to go to those until I was 16. We had extra holidays from school in the autumn for potato picking. Some of the men on the farm were Italian Prisoners of War - they taught us to count in Italian. It was hard work but we enjoyed the change from schoolwork. The Home Guard mostly guarded the main water pipeline which supplied water to Birmingham. Our nextdoor neighbour was a Special Policeman and once he came and told us we were showing a light - the cat had moved the curtain. My father wasnt very pleased especially as she crowned it all by having kittens on his bed. I dont remember any hardships except having to wear my sister's clothes when she had outgrown them, I really envied my friend who was the only girl and had everything new.

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