大象传媒

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

Madeleine's stories below are her childhood memories of her war experiences and are recalled in the first person as she presented them to me.

Outbreak of War

I was nearly 5 when the war started, my brother was 2 _ and my sister was 3 months old. We lived with my Mother's parents between Poole and Bournemouth. I can remember the adults listening to the radio when war was declared. I knew something serious was happening but didn't understand what it was. My Father went into Poole the next day and joined the Royal Navy
( even though he couldn't swim). He spent the war on mine- sweepers, mostly in the Scapa Flow area. My Grandfather was a night porter in a big hotel in Bournemouth. This was later requisitioned, by the American forces, until D-Day. Our cat fed very well on scraps from the hotel; luxuries like salmon and chicken.

Air Raids

My Grandfather had strengthened the area under the stairs and made 2 bunks for my brother and I, with a niche at the end for my sister's pram. A double bed was brought downstairs and put in the dining room for my Mother and Grandmother. When the air raids started I was very frightened. A lot of bombs were dropped in the Bournemouth and Poole area. I used to creep down to the end of the bunk and pinch the pram cover from my sister's pram. It was lovely and soft and so comforting. Mum got tired of scolding me, and Grandma made another one.

One very bad night the raids were very close. My mother was so scared she dressed me and we were on the way out of the front door with the pram when grandma said 鈥� where are you going鈥�. Mother replied to the shelter down the road but she had forgotten about my brother asleep in his bunk. That night a parachute mine blew up an air raid shelter in the road behind ours killing many people.

Another night when there was an air raid overhead there was a thundering bang on the front door and an Air Raid Warden burst in and ran up the stairs. An incendiary bomb had landed on the house but luckily didn't catch it alight. It just made a hole in the roof and a brown stain on my bedroom ceiling, which was there for years. Later in the war we had a Morrison shelter in our dining room. We could all sleep there if there was a raid and use the top as a table. It had very sharp metal corners, which gave me many a bruise.

School

I didn't go to school until I was nearly 6. We were taught to hide under the desks to begin with when there was an air raid. Later when shelters had been dug we would hurry across the playground and go down into the dug out shelters. I can still remember the damp earth smell of them and the stink of the bucket behind a sack which would serve as a toilet. We would recite our tables and sing songs. Every time I hear 鈥�10 green bottles hanging on the wall鈥� it takes me back to those years. I would sit on the bench with my fingers in my ears to muffle the sound of aircraft overhead.

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