大象传媒

I was 13 when the war started, and, ah, and lived in Birmingham. Father had a small decorating business, which I went into.
Aah, I remember the day, huh; war broke out very well and, and, I started work in 1940; and I saw the first German bomber, on the second job I was working on; came over in daylight. I couldn't believe it. Three anti-aircraft guns fired; of course they were miles away.
They were just on reconnaissance; they were so far away we thought well, this is it, you know, the we might as well put up the white flag; of course they didn't want to bring down a bomber over a populated area. And I went all through the bombing in Birmingham; we lived in the cellar for six months. We were right in the central area we lived in then. Certainly, on the one week, I remember, we had three heavy raids for 13 hours; one was eight, one was 11 and, we were in the cellar.
I wouldn't say you wasn't terrified, but I never remember anybody screaming. But you certainly used to think that perhaps the next one was going to get you., we actually had five incendiary bombs on our premises in one night, I managed to put one out, my father managed to put one out, Certainly, it went on and on the war, the bombing was very intense. We were annoyed because you never heard, well, not about the bombing, but certainly not about us.
Because Birmingham was never mentioned during the war, so we used to hear on the radio, or the wireless, as it was then, these other cities were being bombed and we'd just had nine hours of bombing and nothing. Realise now that it was never mentioned, like: Oh! But we used to think that, well, if we haven't been bombed what's all this stuff that's coming down and blowing these houses down?
I carried on until I was called up in 1944. Then I went into the army.
I was in Palestine. I got wounded in Palestine. We had eight of us men killed in Palestine and but were never mentioned. But that's another story. 1946... I was wounded and sent to the Canal zone and finished my time there. I' d done four years actually, in the forces.
During the war we were being trained to be sent to Burma; and of course, they dropped the bomb; and we didn't go.
Theoretically, I was in the building trade and I should have come out under an arrangement, whereby you came out before your demob number came up. But, you had to get your MP's signature on the form, which I got. And I honestly thought I was coming out because he gave me his assurance as an MP; which I realised , well, it wasn't worth a lot, I would be out.
In actual fact, within 10 days I was out in the Middle East, and there I stopped for another two years.
So yes, I do remember the war very well.
This story was collected and submitted to the site by a volunteer from Community Action Volunteer Bureau at the Severn Valley Railway 1940s weekend in June 2005, on behalf of Mr Devy. Mr Devy is aware of the terms and conditions of the site.

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