大象传媒

I left school at the age of 14yrs old 1938, war was threatened to start the last few months at school, we were helping to prepare the smaller and younger children for evacuation, such as address tags of various places they would be sent to in safer parts of the country and also being taught what to do and know if war was declared!

The sirens would be sounded and if that happened to alert us of things to come. I left school that Christmas 1938 started work in a printing and box making family business in Earlsfield, Wandsworth, London. On Sept. 3rd Sunday morning, I was at home with my mum and dad and sister , and at 11am I heard the siren so loud I didn鈥檛 think it was practice. I called and asked my mum to turn the wireless on, she was not aware of the siren or what it meant! The Prime Minister was announcing that Britain had declared war on Germany, everyone was shocked, I wondered what was going to happen next, as my mother had lived in WW1, so was very frightened.

We carried on a normal life at work, Christmas came 1939, very soon after we were at war. Germans had invaded the small countries of Europe, and were certainly getting closer to England, we were issued gas-masks, we had to go to a local pub to get them, and of course, 鈥淏lack-outs鈥� no light to be shown from houses or lamp posts, we all had small No.8 battery torches to see ourselves home at night, but had to shine them down of course when the air-raids began. That was terrifying, the air-raid siren would sound warning us to stay indoors, or if out to go into a shelter under the shops, to stay off the open streets, so you didn鈥檛 go too far from home, except mostly to the cinema. But they would also interrupt the film to say that the air-raid was on, and would we like to leave, most people did. On the way home ARP Wardens patrolled the streets and made sure you rushed home or took cover. Life was pretty awful. We didn鈥檛 have an air-raid shelter as our garden wasn鈥檛 big enough. So my parents made a bed under the heavy oak dining table and that鈥檚 where I slept for months, we didn鈥檛 dare go upstairs.

The German planes would come over, it was an awful drone, search lights from our A.A. guns on the common would be all across the sky. Just like firework night on a grande scale. When they dropped the bombs, my mother would cover me with her body and then wait for the bombs to land, it was terrifying. Come morning I would travel by trolley-bus to work. I can still see the little houses and shops demolished. Ambulances, ARP, Firemen all searching for the poor people. The most vivid thing I remember, was when the troops were trying to leave Dunkirk, all our young men at work who were in the T.A. were told over the radio to report at once to their Territorial Units. They all went, about 6, it left the foreman, the cutter, the two son鈥檚 and a young man named Bob White, he was too young to be called for service 17.
The men were too old who were left, it was a very sad time when we said goodbye to those young men. Most of the girls I worked with went with their mother and family to places as ; Cornwall, Devon, to be evacuated until after the war. During that time, I became friendly with a boy called Bob, he was a printer on the floor downstairs, I was on first floor making boxes for a firm that put condensers in and some book 鈥� binding. The staff was very limited. We used to go to the cinema about 3 times a week and you couldn鈥檛 go for a meal after, as they do today, nothing was open locally and the rationing of sweets, food etc.
Our friend at work who was one who had reported for Dunkirk, was safely brought back at that dreadful time. But his brother was taken prisoner and one of our cousins Tommy White was also taken prisoner and did not get home for about 6 years. His little boy was almost 6 yrs old when they met. Bob and I got engaged in 1942 and then he was also called up for the armed forces, Royal Artillery, he knew that he would be going abroad soon after training, so we were married 9th January 1943.

By March he had a short leave, I went to Leeds for a couple of days where he was stationed at cricket green and we said goodbye on March 8th 1943.We did not meet again until June 6th 1946. He served in India and Burma with the 14th Army. During that time I was living at home and working at Mallards Phillips in Surrey.

I was working on small valves with about 8 other girls who had all been diverted to war work. We assembled the valves for Navy wireless and armed forces, it was very interesting work and very spotless, we wore white production gloves, white coats, very clinical, as we were working with chemicals, mercury, so would be dangerous on the skin. Most of us had husbands or boy friends away fighting, so we palled up to go out some evenings, during that time some did receive telegrams, the dreaded thing you didn鈥檛 want, one girls husband was killed in Italy, another was reported missing, all the time the air-raids kept coming. We had to get under the work benches when the air-raids sounded, sometimes several times during work time. Then it was the special buses to take us home in the black-out. My mothers house was partially bombed, there was a direct hit on the road at the back of us, we were only a two up two down little terraced house, we had to leave the house and go into the Salvation Army hall, where they served hot tea and butter rolls to the people and children.

We stayed at my aunts in Raynes Park near Wimbledon for 3 weeks until they made the house habitable. 4 people were killed that night, then we had another 2 weeks , to be evacuated, a bomb landed in the street after an air-raid and the whole two streets had to get out, it turned out to be an unexploded shell , but the streets were emptied and cordoned off for two weeks. My father hardly got home, he worked for Post Office in Holloway. So had long hours and journey鈥檚. In bad air-raids he would stay at the factory where they made tele-printers, London Bridge underground station would close. That meant he would have to walk across the bridge next station. He would leave the house at 5.45 am to get the first tube train, of course most of the people went down to the underground station to sleep on the platforms for safety.

If you managed to go into London to a show, when you arrived back at the underground you had to pick your way through the beds and people who were there for the night. When the Germans first came over attacking London during the day, they would send fighter planes. One instance: At the beginning of the war they swooped down at S. Wimbledon and machine gunned the people and shopping. .A girl of three was killed, I met her mother years after. My boss was Dutch at Mallards factory ( Phillips ) he came over for a conference in London, whilst in this country, Holland was invaded and he never got back until after the war.
His name was Mr. Van Horn. My husband after the war was working at a printers and paper merchants in Ludgate Circus . London. One of the young directors had the same name Chris Van Horn, yes, after enquiry, he was one of the children who was in Holland with their mother in occupied Holland, they survived on goats milk and bulbs. Our food was plentiful, never had bananas, oranges, 8 pence of meat on ration book, 陆 pint of milk, one egg per person, but we did have a few British Restaurants open in some districts where you could have a hot dinner and sweet for 2 shillings!

When war was ended 1945 I was in Aldershot staying with my sister for a rest from London. Recently my cousin sent a cover of a magazine from the Aldershot Military Museum, I was in that picture, I was 20 yrs old 60 years ago

I feel that I have written far too much. I do hope you can understand what I have said. I am now 80 and my husband Bob nearly 83. We are very lucky people to survive the war. I made many good friends, but missed lot鈥檚 of good times in the most important time of our life. We had one son born in 1947 in peace time. We have 3 lovely grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, we are lucky to be here and to be able to tell you some of the experiences from the age of 15-21.
JOAN WHITE

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