大象传媒

During the war I lived in Bentinck Street, off Great Howard Street in Liverpool. We were not evacuated and we never went to an air raid shelter. My father said that if we were to be killed, it would be better if we were all killed together. Our windows were blown in during the Christmas Blitz (1940) and we covered them with tarpaulin, our landlord said that glass was scarce. We had paraffin oil lamps on the mantelpiece and my mum cooked everything on the fire.

The May Blitz (1941) was a terrible time. Over 40 people died sheltering under the arches (the railway) at the top end of our street. Across the street was the Liverpool Warehousing Co's premises. A bomb clipped a gable end and bounced through the window of the gannet (?) where one of my Aunts slept. She was downstairs at the time and went to investigate the noise. You can imagine the shock when she found a bomb in her bed! Friends and neighbours all came round to have a look, but we were made to leave the street while the Bomb Disposal Squad dealt with it and made it safe.

I went to school at the pub on the corner called the North Star (now demolished) for two hours a day. Later, as many children returned from the evacuation, we were taught at Our Lady鈥檚, Litchfield Street and Eldon Street. I left in 1943, when I was 14 years old and got a job in an office in town. I received a wage of 6 shillings (30p) a week. In the centre of town there was a large amount of destruction. All one side of Lord Street had been flattened, and so had both sides of South Castle and South John Street and The Custom House. A large black building with a dome was merely a burnt out shell.

I walked to work each day along the tram tracks, and sometimes when I passed the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse the Americans who were stationed there would throw me the odd tin of spam or corn, either were most welcome.

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of John Gaul and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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