大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Gloucestershire on behalf of Gordon King with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was twelve years old when the war broke out, and for all of us it was a really the most exiting time of our lives.

We had to put up with rations, and food generally was short as everything we needed had to be shipped across the Atlantic, but generally we had enough to eat and we survived.

I lived in the Co-Op depot in India Road in Gloucester where daily deliveries of bread, milk and coal would be taken door to door around the city by horse and cart. I can remember that the road was always littered deeply in horse dung, and the blacksmith and the wheel right were always very busy.

The most frightening time during that period was when the German aircraft, flying from the Cherbourg Peninsular, passed directly over Gloucester every night on their way to bomb Coventry, Birmingham and the Midlands. Few bombs were dropped in the City but the anti aircraft guns located around Brockworth airfield (and there were dozens of them) put up a tremendous barrage which was quite deafening.

I was lucky enough to go to Sir Thomas Riches, which was the local grammar school and I was leaving at the age of 17 to join the RAF when war ended.

The one thing that I can remember was all the barrage balloons going up all over the city. That sight will stay with me forever.

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