大象传媒

A FAMILY AT WAR
Extracts from my Autobiography
Author Brian W. Kitching

Our house was very big inside, but it did not look big from The outside! It must have been extremely hard for mother in those days there was no coal for fires because of the war. Even if there was, she had no money to pay for it, no heating of any kind, even if there was, the house was so big it was always cold. All clothes, bedding, nappies and towels, had to be washed by hand, god knows how she got it all dried. It would be hard in the winter with all those towels etc. We had one fire in the kitchen; my mother had to cook on it at first as well as dry clothes, and provide a little warmth in the kitchen. Most of the war years were spent in there, it was the only bit of heat we had, all water had to be boiled in pans; toilets were outside and often froze up. But we were lucky in one way, we were the only family that had an inside bathroom, other houses had to use a tin bath on the kitchen floor; we used the tin bath during the war, one after another in the same water! It took a lot of hot water to fill a tin bath. Also in those days all the lighting in the house was with gas, you had to light it with a match; the fires had to be cleaned out every morning and relit. The fireplace in the kitchen was called a range; it had an oven built into it. I would help mother to black lead it once a week; it was very large about 8 ft 脳 8ft then the fire would have to be started using paper, wood, and coal.

Food was getting less in the shops also clothing; the reason being is that we live on an island, and most of our food and cotton etc. came by sea; and with the war in Europe very few ships were coming to the U.K. All the people of England were asked to grow as much fruit and veg as possible; people were digging up lawns and planting veg; also keeping chickens in outside sheds and coalhouses; 鈥榃e had no garden only a back yard鈥�.

War had just broken out, ships that used to supply Britain were stopped or sunk in the Atlantic. We were cut off from the rest of the world, and now on our own. Mother had to queue for hours just for a little mincemeat and bread, often when she got to the front of the queue there was nothing left. Before dad went to war, he would go out shooting for rabbits, and pigeons, just to supplement our diet. It was a common sight to see a Hare hanging by its back legs in our outhouse; Hares meat was tough but if you let it hang for three to five days it would become tender. We were also given malt for vitamins and caster oil daily, there was a lot of illness about caused by poor diet, also a lot of infantile mortality. Everybody was issued with a gas mask; we had to carry them everywhere we went; they were expecting the Germans to drop gas bombs on us; I can remember wearing mine they looked so funny but could have saved our lives if they had dropped gas.

In 1940 father was called up to go to war, he got the RAF. First he went to Padgate, and then he was transferred to 9 R.C. Blackpool, where he did his basic training, then transferred again to Morecambe for more training. Dad was then sent into active service and posted to Elsham Wolds 12-9-44 in Lincolnshire 鈥�103 Sqdn鈥�. After a while he made the rank of 鈥楥orporal鈥�, he was in charge of the M.T. section, it also included bomb loading onto aircraft, 鈥楲ancaster鈥�, 鈥楲incoln鈥�, and 鈥楽hakleton鈥�, lots of WAAF鈥橲 in his camp! In 1944 he was sent over to 鈥楪ermany鈥�, and also 鈥楤elgium鈥�. He never told us a lot about the war. But from what I hear, he did not have it too bad. Among some of the things he brought back was a full German Officer鈥檚 uniform including cap and bayonets also a model of a Spitfire made out of matches, he later told me it was made by a Spitfire Pilot while in a German prisoner of war camp. He also brought back two bakalite models of German planes, they would be hanging from the ceiling in the mess, so the pilots would know what to look for in the skies, I have these now.

My mother was left at home with me at 2 yrs old and the twins not long born, we had an Anderson air-raid shelter built in our back yard. It was cold and damp inside with no heat or light, we had to have duckboards on the cold concrete floor, because there was always an inch or two of water on it. Even the smallest light could be seen from the sky, so all the houses had blackout blinds fitted, street lights were turned off, lampposts were painted white, all the curb stones and roundabout鈥檚 were also painted white. All cars had light deflectors fitted and white lines painted around wheel arches, it was so black that 4000 people were killed due to the blackout alone.

We had a lot of 鈥楤arrage Balloons鈥� that we could see them from our house and they all had names, also very large searchlights which would be turned on when the German Bombers came over. They would try and get the beam onto a plane and if one did, all the other searchlights would turn onto it then we would hear all the guns firing hoping to shoot one down, they did get a few. I can remember learning to count, we used to count British Bombers and Fighters going out from 鈥楾hornaby鈥�, and also from Lancasters from 鈥楧insdale鈥�, then we would count them all back in, and see if any were missing. 鈥楢 good way to learn to count鈥�. We would hear German planes going over and explosions in the distance, one night after the air-raid siren went off, we heard some terrific explosions go off, the whole world seemed to shake, and all our windows were blown in, mum was terrified, we used to sleep downstairs so we could get into the air-raid shelter fast, climbing through the dinning room window. We found out the next morning eight houses and their families were all wiped out!

My mother was frightened we would be next, so a decision was made to send me away to live with my Aunt in her house at Darlington. Mother said 鈥榚ven if the Germans got her and the twins, I would be safe in Darlington鈥�, the reason being was we lived so near to ICI, and in the middle of two Aerodromes, plus all Engineering works at Stockton, Thornaby, and Billingham, they were a prize target for the Germans.

I can just remember mother taking me there in my Uncles car and being upset, I had not met my Aunt and Uncle before I don鈥檛 think, and they had no children of their own. My Uncle took my mother back home, and I was in a strange place, a different house with people I did not know. I can vividly remember living there. Not long after, my Uncle was called up for war service; he went into the R.A.O.C. So it was just me left with My Aunt. I slept in the back bedroom and can remember being bathed in a nice new bathroom; they had a lot of sugar stored in the front small bedroom, which I soon found. I lived there for I think it was between two and three years, I did not see my mother maybe only once or twice, she could not get there no transport at all, the petrol was needed for the war, and I had forgotten my previous years in Stockton. There was an air raid shelter at Darlington but we never went in it, not like Stockton, we were always in and out some times 2 or 3 times a night, it was cold in there, we would hear bombs going off and the planes overhead, you could also hear children crying with fear, it was much safer here.

Eventually the war did end in 1944 and my mum came to pick me up, I can remember being very upset, and did not want to go with this woman who said she was my mother, my Aunt wanted me to stay with her, she wanted to adopt me! She said to my mum [quote] 鈥榶ou already have got the twins, and I have no children of my own, and I have had him for nearly 4 yrs, he has forgotten you鈥�. She stayed there all day trying to get to know me, and convince my Aunt she was taking me, mother was insistent she was going to take her son home, to make her family complete again. 鈥淏ut my world was turned upside down鈥�.

So here I was back in Northcote Street about six years old, living with a mother I could not remember, and twin brothers. 鈥淚 felt like a cuckoo in somebody else鈥檚 nest鈥�, I had been like an only child before at Darlington, now I am in a big old house with the twins then four years old, and I did not know them, or how to play with other children. It took me a long time to settle back in. Eventually I did settle in, mother used to take me everywhere with her trying to get to know each other all over again, she took me to see my first film it was Bambi. Mum and I had tea and biscuits in the interval, 鈥榩eople did then鈥�. Mum took me to see many other films; also she would take me with her shopping at Binns. Then just as my world was settling down, I can remember great excitement in the house.

Later in the day, a strange man came in the front door in a RAF uniform, he was carrying a large kit bag, and a case, I had not seen men in any of the houses I had been in, and why was he kissing my new mother? I said to mum 鈥榳ho is he鈥�? She said 鈥榠t鈥檚 your father鈥�! I could not remember him, but he seemed to know me! He gave the twins and me a toy and some chocolate, I had not seen chocolate before, and there were no sweets in the shops around here. There were lots of families in our street without fathers; they just did not return home from the war.
We had a lot of Prisoners Of War billeted near us; we would often see them driving dumper trucks down Bowesfield Lane to Ashmores; some were German but there were a lot of Italians they were there till around 1946. When I started school I was 2 years behind the other children, I did not go to school in Darlington. My education suffered for the rest of my school days. I can still remember my first day at school, I was terrified of all these children running around, I had not been used to being with lots of children, I only knew my Aunt and my life in Darlington. 鈥業 was six at the time鈥�.
I never seemed to catch up, dad said if I passed my exam he would buy me a bike, so of course I failed my eleven plus, other children that were at my school were in poor clothing and worn out shoes, we used to put cardboard in our shoes when they had holes in them. Some poor girls had no pants on! Their fathers had been killed during the war, so no money coming in the house and less clothing coupons, we all got sand shoes supplied from the school for P.T., but most of the poor kids had them on all the time, that was all they had to put on their feet.

Brian W. Kitching

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