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Gas Masks and shelters

Gas masks were delivered to everyone’s house and had to be carried in a cardboard shoulder bag everywhere we went in case of a German gas attack during an air raid. All our windows had to be covered at night with heavy blackout curtains so that no light could be seen from outside to aid the German bombers and local air raid wardens were appointed to check each house to see that there were no chinks of light showing.

So I was always very frightened when I heard the air raid sirens because I knew they were a warning that German bombers were approaching. One night while my father was away in Southampton the sirens went for the first time in Salisbury, and my mother rushed into my bedroom, wrapped a blanket around me and took me down to the cupboard under the stairs which was supposed to be the safest place in case of an air raid if you didn’t have a proper shelter. We sat there until the ‘all clear’ siren went and then returned to our beds. She told me many years later about this episode, and how she had sat there with a small torch trying to read the leaflet ‘what to do if there is an air raid’, and shaking with fear. She said I was very quiet, but then suddenly asked her when we were going to die — which upset her even more, and she never forgot that moment.

Khaki netting
School carried on more or less as usual, except that we had to spend one afternoon each week threading pieces of khaki material through netting so that it could be sent off to be used as camouflage to protect our soldiers. It was explained to us that it was our contribution to the war effort but we found it difficult to understand what difference pieces of cloth on netting was going to make to us winning the war.

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