大象传媒

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I was 13 at the outbreak of war and was attending a local grammar school. About a week after the start of the war, a map of Liverpool was put up, on which a line had been drawn showing the more vulnerable areas of the city. Those pupils who lived inside the line were strongly advised to be evacuated, while those outside could go if they wished, but there was no strong persuasion. I happened to live actually on the line. Along with everyone else, my parents thought that heavy bombing would soon occur, particularly as Liverpool was a key port for imports of war materials from the States. So they decided I should go with the school to Llanelly (now Llanelli). After a long train journey, with no refreshments, we were taken to a school where some kind ladies gave us each a bar of chocolate and a soft drink. Then we sat around for an hour or so until we were allocated billets. I was sent to a very nice semi in the suburbs, the lady was called Mrs Lewis, who had a son of about my age. I was looked after very well and was introduced to the game of tennis, which I enjoyed.

At Christmas-time all the evacuees were sent home for a couple of weeks and since no bombing had occurred, I asked if I could stay in Liverpool and my parents agreed.

In May 1941 the Blitz came to the City and my best friend, Jimmy Nolan, was killed-he lived nearer the docks than I did. He was only 15.

Houses with gardens were provided with Anderson shelters, whereas the many terraced houses had communal brick-built shelters. The raids were always during the night and how my siblings and I hated to be roused from warm beds to go into a damp, cold semi-underground shelter. Some incendiary bombs fell in our short road, but the nearest high explosive bombs were about a quarter of a mile away, where three houses were utterly destroyed. Local volunteers easily extinguished the incendiaries.

In one particular raid an ammunition train about half a mile from my home was hit and the whole thing exploded. It was parked on an embankment so some local terraced houses were exposed to the full force of the blast and an entire street was destroyed with great loss of life. The next morning all the surrounding streets were covered with a mass of white packing material. My family were fortunate to come through unscathed.

My elder brother, Joe, was told in the Summer of 1939, to report to an RAF camp for 3 weeks training. The three weeks became six years! At the end of the war, he and his fiancee, Norah, discussed when to get married and she came up with the bright suggestion that they could make it a multiple wedding with two of her five sisters! So that was arranged and the ceremony took place in early September, the three grooms representing the Army the Navy and the Air Force. Good news was in short supply, so their wedding made the national dailies (see photo).Two of the brides were in the services (WAAF and WRNS)- only the youngest was a civilian.

My next brother, Jack, was a trained machinist, so he was put in charge of a mainly female workforce at a Royal Ordnance factory, but later in the war, he was called up into REME and was sent to Egypt and then to Haifa, in Palestine.

I was then 17 and took advantage of Jack's absence, to use his motorbike. Petrol in those days was 1s 10d per gallon - alas no more!

At 18 years of age I won a scholarship to Liverpool University to study Civil Engineering, a three year course. I was surprised to see that the quadrangle was filled to a depth of three feet with coal, presumably for the boilers.
In wartime every examination had to be passed in one attempt as failure resulted in immediate call-up. Fortunately I graduated B Eng in 1947 and was then conscripted for two years National Service in the Royal Engineers-a complete waste of my skills. I shoud have been employed in rebuilding a war damaged country.

Civilian Life
Almost everything was rationed - food, sweets, clothes, petrol, coal, and at one stage even bread and potatoes. My brother Jack, sister Eileen and I all liked sugar in our tea, porridge etc, so to ensure fairness, Mum used to put our meagre rations into individual cartons (with our names on)to eke out as best we could. Rubber was in short supply so hot water bottles had to be made of earthenware. Due to the blackout, people had to have torches to find their way about, but batteries were often unobtainable. If motorists had to be out after dark, it was very difficult for them because of the metal masks which were fitted to the headlights, leaving only three narrow slits in order to see their way. It is a wonder that there were not more accidents. One small benefit of the blackout was the lack of light pollution so the stars appeared particularly brilliant.

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