大象传媒

I told you that I wasn't in West Bromwich on the 19th of November and you may wonder why. Well, when we started manning the War Room before the bombings we were on duty night after night because we had preliminary warnings. We had two preliminary warnings.

We had air raid warning Yellow which meant that enemy planes were about and that was relayed through our switchboard throughout the service. This told people get on the alert -get ready.

That could be followed by air raid warning PURPLE which meant that fighter command were under the Impression that they were coming In the direction of the Midlands. If they were getting dangerously near air raid warning RED would be given and that was when the sirens sounded. There were many nights in the War Room when we were up on an air raid purple alert and we might be there until 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock In the morning.

I had a little nook In the town hail where I had a bedstead, a mattress and some blankets and I used to snatch a few hours sleep If I could. War Room staff did two stints a week. One day time stint, one night time stint. Well Darlow and I were doing day and night, day and night. We'd got our job to do in the daytime and we were down in the War Room at night and he said to me "Look we will have to have a roster". The roster he suggested to me worked out like this: at the beginning of my roster I would come to work In the morning (I lived at Harborne at the time) and I'd do my day's work and as long as It took into the evening which was very often 8 or 9 o'clock at night. Then I would stop In the War Room for ~he rest of the night and be back in the office the next morning.

Now that went on for a week. I had a week at the Town Hall working during the day and on duty In the War Room during the night. We had some meals provided, I'd got my bed when I could get to it and then after the end of the week, I think it was on a Wednesday, I would leave work and go home. It was the end of my stint and I said to the Town Clerk "I'm

going to get off tonight If I may sir" and he said" oh yes you get off". So I got away and about half a dozen of us decided that we would go and have a swim before we went home. The girl who was to be my wife was In the office and she came too.

We went to the old second-class swimming bath at the top end of Lombard Street to have a swim. The bath wasn't always open but we had an arrangement, being Civil Defenders, that we could have a swim. The Gaia baths, the new baths, had been closed and was In use for Civil Defence recreation purposes, meetings and so on. So we left there about twenty to seven. I was going home -I'd got a little car I could use. My girlfriend was going back to Wednesbury and the others were going back Into the Town Hall to do their night stint In the War Room. On the way back through Smethwick I knew a raid was on because I could see the flashes I could hear the bangs and that's why I wasn't at West Bromwich on the 19th November. We were probably the last people to have a swim In those baths. They were bombed about an hour after we left!!

Postscript

After the war, Major John Lees, Chairman of the Emergency Committee and George F. Darlow, Town Clerk and Civil Defence Controller were each awarded the OBE.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Mr. Day and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Day fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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