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This story has been written onto the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by Cornwall CSV Storygatherer, Martine Knight, on behalf of Ivor Addison. His story was given to the Trebah WW2 Video Archive, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2004. The Trebah Garden Trust understands the terms and conditions of the site.

I was born at Trannack in 1929. When we heard, on our radio (run by rechargeable accumulators and a dry battery and with very complicated wiring), that war had been declared they played the National Anthem.

At school the evacuee children went in the morning and local children in the afternoon. Some evacuees got homesick and two who were staying with us went missing. They were found walking along the Helston-Gwinear Road railway line — intent on walking back to Enfield. The police brought them back.

My father was a haulage contractor. In 1944 he was asked to take his lorry to Mawnan Smith to help in the widening and straightening of the roads to accommodate tank transporters in preparation for D-Day. As it was the school holidays I went with him. All the surplus soil etc was dumped into a disused quarry in Penryn. The Americans used concrete instead of tarmac for the roads.
One day, when returning to Helston after a morning’s work, one of their tipper lorries was loaded with black American troops. The driver activated the tipper mechanism and they were all tipped out onto the street. I don’t know if it was intentional or not. I do remember that the black soldiers were more polite than the white ones.

The Americans once gave my father some tinned food. The tins had loops on the top which, when pulled, caused some sort of heating process to heat up the food inside.

In the blackout cars had special shields fitted to their headlights to direct and restrict the light. It made night driving very difficult.
Early in the war a German Heinkel plane crashed at Gwavas, near Sithney. People tried to get hold of bits of the wreckage to make jewellery. A Mosquito crashed at Wheal Mount, near Releath, and all the French crew were killed. Some years later I saw a list of aircraft crashes in Cornwall and that one was omitted. I actually watched a plane crash near Helston — I think it was a Whirlwind.

Once my father and I were in Falmouth when a German bomber dropped 4 bombs behind us. Several houses were demolished and people killed. I picked up some of the shrapnel when it had cooled.

In 1938 a German ship had come into Falmouth on a goodwill visit. All the sailors had cameras and took loads of pictures of the area. Also a German airship flew over my house, out towards Predannack airfield and across to Falmouth. Looking back I think they must have been reconnaissance trips.

I was very keen on planes and vehicles and knew all the specifications of different planes so I knew which were friendly and which were hostile. Whereas a Merlin engine ‘whistled’ the German ones ‘pulsated’.
British military vehicles ran on petrol whilst German ones ran on diesel.
A lot of the American vehicles were 6-wheeled e.g. Dodges & GM’s.

I learnt to drive in our meadow at the age of 10 and then ventured out onto the roads with a cushion to boost me up high enough. I often got a wave from the local policeman!

VIDEO DETAILS — HELSTON (PART 2) 08:40:05 — 09:15:10
also CWS110804 12:23:25 to 12:39:10 and 15:57:55 to 16:06:56

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