大象传媒

These stories were submitted to the People's War Site by a volunteer, Jacqueline Scott, on behalf of Michael Wentworth and have been added to the site with his permission. Michael fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Michael's stories below are his memories of his war-time experiences as a child and are recorded in the first person as he described them to me in the form of a chronological diary.

3rd September 1939

When war was declared I was in Swanage Children's hospital, recovering from a Tuberculosis gland. I remember seeing British warships turning in Poole bay before I left. I was moved back home to Wimborne by a car, after being discharged from hospital, which I thought was terribly glamorous as not many people I knew had cars then.

End 1939/ Early 1940

Around the Wimborne area there were tank blocks laid down between houses, air raid shelters built in streets, pill-boxes sited at road junctions or river crossings ( River Stour). Two of my brothers were at a Territorial Army Camp at Corfe Castle. They were immediately called up, without returning home, and they remained in the Army after the war ended.
Other memories from that time include an Ammunition Dump built on our local cricket ground and evacuated children from Southampton and London attended our school in Wimborne.
Our Headmaster, who was the captain of the local Home Guard, taught us how to lie in the gutters or behind walls if we were being machine-gunned by German Aircraft.

June 1940

After Dunkirk 2 soldiers were billeted in our tiny 2 bedroomed house. The conditions were very cramped for all of us. One of the soldiers was taken away by ambulance as he was acting strangely, through battle fatigue.

July 1940

At school we gave up using trenches for shelter, as they collapsed in heavy rain and moved into the main school and took shelter in the corridors, where piles of sand-bags were used to strengthen the walls.

August/September 1940

I watched dog-fights over East Dorset, where aircraft, which looked like little silver fish high in the sky, battled it out. I heard machine gun fire and and the screams of damaged aircraft engines, occasionally the odd parachute floated down.

Autumn/ Winter 1940-41

Sirens were sounded almost every evening, with the all-clear sounding at first light. Bombers were passing overhead throughout the night. We slept under the stairs or in the brick shelter in the road. My Father was a Special Constable, often away at night, while my Mother worked in a local pub. It was my responsibility to get my younger sister to the shelter; I was 8 years old.

1941

I remember seeing British troops everywhere in the Wimborne area. At weekends I visited the local Army camp to take orders for cakes, which I bought from a local bakery 2 miles away. I continued with this money making venture when the US Army arrived from 1942 onwards.

On weekends us local boys acted as 鈥減atients鈥� for the ARP fire service and police by pretending to be bomb victims. In especially built huts smoke canisters were set off and then we laid down feigning injury and awaiting rescue.

After the British Tank crews moved on from our local woods my friends and I went exploring there to see what treasures we could find. We found sticks of cordite that had split from containers and were scattered everywhere in the undergrowth. So we built a small fire-place with bricks and put the cordite inside and lit the blue touch-papers. We made loud bangs this way!

1942-Red-Light District.

The road in which I lived with my parents and sister was declared off limits to US and British troops. It had been classified by the Authorities as a 鈥淩ed Light鈥� District. American Snow-Drops ( Military Police) and British Red Caps patrolled each access road. My mother was so ashamed to be seen entering the road that she would check it was clear of all possible observers before sprinting up the road into our house.

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