大象传媒

I was born and lived in the Police Station at Pontardulais, Glamorgan. In September l939 an air raid siren was fitted to the roof of the house. From that time on it was in regular use. Blackout conditions were imposed and street lights were extinguished.

Troop convoys moved along the roads east and west to the ports and aerodromes.

The local grammar school at Gowerton was reached by school bus. In order to save petrol a double decker was substituted for two single deckers. This worked well until the day the driver forgot to stop at the low bridge where we normally got off and walked the last mile to school. There was an almighty crash as the bus hit the bridge and projected out on the other side. The top of the bus peeled back like a sardine tin. One of the boys was badly hurt as he had stood up in preparation for leaving. Dillwyn Jenkins was taken to hospital. Shaken and covered in glass fragments we made our way to the school. We were looked after by the staff and lessons were abandoned for the morning.

The air raid siren went off when enemy aircraft were reported. Nearby Swansea was a target and was blitzed in February 1941.

Several groups of evacuees shared our lives and school. We welcomed half day school as we could finish our homework before the siren and the AckAck guns started up.
After Dunkirk food supplies became short and we grew up slim. Clothes coupons barely sufficed for a growing teenager!
In 1943 I went to University in Cardiff and sat my first degree examination paper on D Day June 44. When we went into the exam Cathays Park was filled with American troops but when we came out they had all gone.

My thoughts went back to late April when the US troops in my home area had gone on a practice manoeuvre. Something had resulted in serious loss of life. The Military Police did not return for three weeks and were very subdued. Years later we learned that the 4th Infantry Division had lost a large number of men before the invasion. I hoped the departing men would fare better. Only this year I learned from TV documentary that there were 7OO casualties at Slapton Sands in Devon.

The war continued the toll of losses and by the end the Grammar School had lost 61 former pupils known to my brothers and I. Thankfully the war in Europe came to an end in May 1945 and the gunfire and sirens turned silent.

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