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Before the war broke out

Tommy lived in Farnom in Surrey; he had a wife and children. He worked as a salesman for a large firm (it was one of the largest in the country.) Even though Tommy worked hard he was still on poor pay.

During the War

When war broke out Tommy was 29, he had to leave behind his wife. He found this very difficult, as his wife didn’t work so she would have had to support herself on £1 a week. When the Southampton head quarters was bombed his wife received no money at all.
Tommy was sent to Blackpool to learn the Morse code and had to type 25 words in 1 minute, from there he was stationed in Rangoon in Burma. Burma was supposedly one of the worst areas to fight in the war, as there were a lot of diseases. He also told us that he had to watch out for scorpions in his shoes. Tommy needed to have a dozen inoculations, just in case he caught any deadly diseases. He caught a glimpse of a cobra and a massive spider, whilst being in the Far East. He spoke about being an airman in Burma; he said that because of this he had a van with most of his stuff in, e.g. his clothes and personal possessions. This meant he didn’t have to carry much equipment round. He said although it was a very uncomfortable lifestyle, he got looked after well and the food was very good. He was posted from the RAF to the Army to be near his wife who was giving birth at this time. When he wasn’t allowed leave he escaped through a hole in the hedge and walked along the road and hoped that somebody would give him a lift home so that he could be with his wife and children.
If you were in uniform the train conductor didn’t ask for your train ticket because he knew you were serving for the country, which meant he got a free ride. Tommy’s surname was ‘Watkin’ so when they lined up for interviews to go and fight in other countries, he was never picked to go because his name ended in ‘W’ which was near the end of the alphabet.

Medals

Tommy had 4 medals to show us, they were as follows
-Burma Star (you receive this when you have fought in the war)
-1939-1945 Star
-The Defence Medal
He also showed us a medal called ‘The Air Crew Europe Star, this was his wife’s cousins medal.

Then and Now

We asked Tommy how he felt about the Germans then and now, he replied ‘I have friends and relations that are Germans but I hated the Germans in the 1920s because they were trying to invade many innocent countries. He also hated the Japanese as he was in Burma fighting against them, but then when he arrived home he bought a Japanese car, he believed that invading Japan had to be done. We asked Tommy what he thought of the American GI’s he answered with ‘they were over paid, over sexed and over rated,’ he later learned that his wife had been chatted up by a GI.

Other Relations

His wife’s aunt had lost her husband in World War 1 then her two sons fought in World War 2, they were both killed and Tommy said that his saddest moment during the war was telling her that her two sons had died. His son in law came from a Jewish family during the war, he had to be shipped over to San Francisco, he said that there was no bombing out there.

Rationing and Blackouts

Due to the War, all foods were rationed and you were limited to one ounce of sugar/butter but Tommy was lucky as he was given meat from his friends who were farmers. In the blackouts Tommy said a warden would walk up and down the streets. If you were caught smoking a cigarette you were told to put it out instantly as it was too bright.
Tommy was sent to Burma to fight and his brother in law was on the ship in Singapore. He hadn’t seen his brother in law for 4 years, he went to meet him at Rangoon, he could hardly recognise him, as he was skin and bone because he hadn’t been fed properly.

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