大象传媒

In July 1939 I had my 11th birthday, my father worked for an American oil company and as war became imminent my parents considered sending my brother (14) and me to stay with colleagues in the States. Neither of us wanted to go and whilst discussions were going on one of the ships carrying children to States/Canada was torpedoed and many were drowned, some from the North East, so my parents sent my brother to friends in the Lake district and I went to Bamburgh together with my sister (17 陆) but I was very homesick and was back home by Christmas 鈥�39 for the duration of the war. My sister was 鈥榗alled up鈥� and joined the army (ATS)
Life went on almost as normal I was the only one at home and when there was an air raid my mother and I went under the stairs for protection. It was some time before we got our indoor 鈥楳orrison Shelter鈥� made of sheet steel top with steel mesh surrounds which could take the weight of a roof, although we did not get the opportunity to test that theory! There were many houses destroyed and my school and our church were hit by 鈥楲and Mines鈥� more powerful than bombs. I was upset when I went to school and found a dead hedgehog lying on its back quite dead in a crater. The school was not badly damaged and lessons proceeded as normal. Daytime raids were not as frequent as night time raids, but one which still affects me was a raid at lunchtime when I was at home. The sirens sounded and my mum and I went under the stairs and then the drone of many plane engines became louder and louder quite terrifying and for the first time I felt my mothers fear as she held me in her arms. How long the planes flew over us I do not know but no bombs fell on Newcastle, apparently the German planes were going elsewhere and had come from Norway, all 1,000 of them. To this day I do not know what their target was. Plymouth was completely destroyed as was Coventry but I doubt if either of those targets could have been reached (fuel wise) from Norway. I still dislike loud noises and low flying aircraft. I did not go back to school that day.
In the first weeks of the war my first experience of loss of life was the son of our friends who was one of the first casualties of the war. He was an officer in the Royal Navy and served on one of our battleships 鈥楻oyal Oak鈥� which was at anchor at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys when a German U Boat torpedoed it in October 1939, most of the crew were killed, it was a terrible disaster for us so early in the war but a terrible loss for our friends.
Close to myself was a childhood friend who eventually became my husband. Two of his brothers were serving, Tom with the Navy and Ken in the army. Tom鈥檚 ship was torpedoed in home waters and all hands were lost. 鈥� He was 19. Ken was captured by the Japanese and was one of the many who was forced to work on the notorious Burma railway. He was in change jail for 5 years and came home a shadow of his old self only weighing 9 stone and at 6鈥�6鈥� that was emaciated, despite the Australians fattening them up somewhat before sending them back home.
My own cousin Harry was in the RAF and was captured by the Germans and ended up in a prisoner of war camp for RAF personnel 鈥淪talag Luft鈥� he was a brilliant scholar and spoke several languages fluently which helped him when he escaped and travelled through Europe tom Greece where he joined the Greek Freedom Fighters in the mountains. Eventually he was re-captured and returned to Germany and condemned to death. However his languages saved his life as the Germans used him as an interpreter and eventually he returned home but whilst assisting a motorist who had broken down he was hit by another car and died in hospital. A sad end to an adventurous man.
Many friends lost sons and daughters but we were lucky as my sister survived the London Blitz, the Doodlebugs and V2 rockets and my brother joined the Royal Navy when he was only 17 under a special scheme but eventually served on a destroyer and then a battleship. Both returned to the family home safe and sound.
The war ended before I was old enough to be called up for service but I would have joined the Land Army. During certain times when the farmers were hard pressed for labour, schoolchildren were asked to help out thinning out seedlings, picking fruit etc and I remember certain Sunday鈥檚 meeting other children outside a carpet shop called R.J.Morpeth in Blackett Street at about 9 am and being taken by bus to whichever farm needed us. We had picnic lunches but I cannot remember if we got any pocket money!
As I got older I acted as a messenger on my bike complete with hat and gas mask between what were 鈥漅est Centres/First Aid Centres鈥�. I loved this as I was at long last doing something useful and it was exciting. The rest centres had blankets and clothing for those who had been bombed out of their homes and in a state of shock. My mother was involved in one in our church hall. That same church hall was used as a communication centre when a practice for invasion was held. And we stalked enemy soldiers and vehicles, throwing used light bulbs which made bangs and the enemy either surrendered or the monitors declared them dead. It may sound fun but it was deadly serious and the threat of invasion WAS a reality. I cannot remember what took the place of a tank but I remember coming across one in a back lane and ran to hide. Perhaps they used barrows for they had to be mobile!
We carried on mainly doing everyday things my father was away a lot to do with business and mum and I went to the cinema regularly, but often an air raid would interrupt the film, although most people stayed on unless things got too close for comfort, then it was a rapid exit to the nearest shelter although on 2 occasions we got caught out and took cover in doorways. Some people left their front doors open and in those days your property was quite safe. We found shrapnel and debris all over the street and realised we had been lucky not to have been injured, possibly killed.
One of the guns used during raids was called Pom-Pom gun and it was mobile, it roamed freely from street to street firing on the planes caught in searchlights based in our local park. I鈥檝e seen these guns or similar on war ships and they have several gun barrels and they do make a noise like Pom-Pom. It was comforting to know they were protecting us.
There were no lights of course and wardens patrolled the streets making sure all windows had to be blacked out if not they shouted 鈥淧ut that light out鈥� and it was an offence to show a light as planes could see them. Also we had no road signs so it was as well to know where you were going or you would be lost, which was the idea so that the Germans could not find their way round our countryside.
Food rationing was brought in early during the war as being an island a lot of our food was brought in by sea and the German U-Boats were all around our shores so only vital supplies were shipped into the country. Bananas, oranges and foods that we did not grow ourselves were no longer available. We no longer had things like tinned peaches and pineapples, meat was scarce and whale meat and horse flesh came onto the market but I never knowingly ate horseflesh nor did my mother ever buy it. Many of our Merchant sailors died bringing essential goods to us and despite the escorting ships in convoy with them our losses were great.
Apart from food there were many things unavailable, if a window got broken it was boarded up, no glass, if our tennis balls became lost or 鈥榖ald鈥� no new ones available, if comics or newspapers were lost or destroyed further copies could not be obtained. Most newsagents only supplied their regular customers and it was almost impossible to buy papers or comics/magazines from another newsagent as paper was in very short supply.
So many things that are taken for granted these days were just not available during the war... Simple things like a cake tin. All metal was precious and all iron railings were taken away from gardens, parks, schools etc to be melted down for arms and the war effort.
It was a criminal offence to buy extra rationed food and was called the 鈥楤lack Market鈥�. If caught you could go to prison. Not only food was sold on the black market but coal, clothes, petrol etc and unscrupulous people made a lot of money dealing in black market goods.
The usual way to help out with food shortages was to swap coupons for goods you did not need with someone who was doing the same. For instance I did not have a sweet tooth and preferred apples and pears to sugar and sweets so my coupons were swapped for tea coupons or possibly butter! We all grew vegetables in our gardens and my mother bottled summer fruits for the winter months. The worst was fresh eggs as my father had a delicate stomach so my egg ration and my mothers went to dad so we were left with dried egg which was horrible and only used for cakes. If you had to go away you had to take your ration book so that hotels could remove the relevant coupons for your food. As dad had our egg rations it was kippers for breakfast mostly not an appetising thought for a youngster.
Despite the conflict life goes on and one of my post-war friends was a German girl who had a far worse time than we did as her father disagreed with the Nazis and was put in prison and often the German people were starving, living on very little that was nourishing.
One of my grandsons is married to a delightful East German girl and is part of out extended family.
Many gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and we will not forget them but we still have not learnt anything from the past, we are still involved in wars and until we learn to live together in peace and harmony then nothing will change 鈥� Will we ever learn?

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