大象传媒

The War through the eyes of a child

I was five and a half that summer of 1939. I had a very hazy idea of what a War was 鈥� my mother just said it was 鈥渁 lot of men fighting鈥�. (Only later did I learn that one of her elder brothers had drowned in the mud of Paschendaele in the first world war). But 鈥渂ig ears鈥�, listening to the grown ups talking, heard terrible stories of the Pole eating grass and caterpillars because there was no food. I knew that death from starvation was far preferable! I began to learn the Geography of Europe. I remember a terrible sense of shame among all the adults I knew that we had broken faith with Czechoslovakia a reneged on our promise to come to their aid if they needed us.

War broke out on September 3rd. In our home we were totally taken up with the new baby born 6 days ago. Then in January 1940 the schools closed. I鈥檓 glad I wasn鈥檛 evacuated, but I really went crazy from boredom. I had had just 3 terms in school and could read but not yet for pleasure. In theory there was air raid shelter oral teaching, and 鈥渉ouse to house鈥� teaching but it very rarely happened.

In May I really found out what the war was about. Liverpool copped it first because we had 17 miles of docks including ship building and repair yards and the Germans tried to wipe us right off the face of the earth. At that point it was mainly incendiary bombs. Lewis鈥檚 ( a very large department store belonging to Lord Woolton) burned for 3 days and nights without stopping, providing a great beacon of light to guide the succeeding bombers. We lived 5 miles to the east, but up hill from the centre and watched the night sky with horror. There was an ack-ack (anti aircraft) station just round the corner from our house. They were trying to bring down the bombers before they raided the docks.

But children are so resilient. Every morning we stepped gingerly among all the broken glass to see who could find the largest or most interesting piece of shrapnel. We all had our won collections! The black out was more trying. I was terrified of the dark and had always suffered from appalling nightmares and other sleep disorders. And now there was no patch of light from the street lamp to fasten my eyes on till morning.

For adults it was a different story. My father was not called up because of his age and because he had not sight in one eye. He taught senior boys in a very poor and needy area all day; snatched a meal and cycled 10 miles to the other end of the city to reach evening institute, cycled 10 mile back (with blackout) only to hear the air raid warning and have to climb into his ARP (air Raid Precautions) uniform and go out helping any on in trouble all night, till the 鈥渁ll clear鈥� went. How that man lived, never mind stayed sane I will never know

Bigger bombs and land mines were now in use. Mother and I 鈥渟lept鈥� (or rather 鈥渄idn鈥檛 sleep鈥�) in the down stairs front room which my father deemed the safest. Because Liverpool was the first target there were no individual shelters available yet. And for some reason our areas had no public shelters. Dad was proved right the night all our back windows were sucked out. The next day our next door neighbour left a note on her kitchen table for her husband, called a taxi, packed her bags and took her children to Llandudno for the duration. She wanted mother to go with her!! But we didn鈥檛 have that kind on money and in any case mother wouldn鈥檛 do that to Dad. But in July we did indeed go to Llandudno for 3 weeks; and then to Hindley near Wigan to dad鈥檚 parents. I loved being there but mother hated it and arranged for her brother (who still had the use of his car as he needed it for his business 鈥� he was a dentist 鈥� there was no petrol for ordinary civilian: their cars were up on brick in their garages with the wheels removed) to take us to her own parents in Sale, near Manchester, leaving Dad at home alone. She called it 鈥渆vacuation鈥� but the bombing by October 1940 was just as bad in Sale as at home. The war had finally broken their marriage.

I was six and had had only the year鈥檚 schooling. Here I went to a private school where I was expected to learn 鈥淥liver Cromwell in history, large division of money (pounds, shillings and pence) in arithmetic, and copper plate writing on paper ruled with 5 guidance lines. I was banished to the kindergarten with the 3 year olds because I couldn鈥檛 tell the time. How I hated my time in Sale and I missed my father. Then one night there was a landmine in the next street. We were living in a huge old manse 鈥� my grandfather was a semi retired Methodist minister. In the morning my grandmother went to o[pen a window and the handle came off in her hand. We discovered that EVERYTHING in the house was loose, every rail, every screw, every bolt 鈥� we had to do some VERY rapid repairs to stop the whole place falling apart.

I remember the houses that had been cut in half 鈥� beds hanging from half-floors, the pretty wall paper still intact on one wall. Rationing started at this time and with it national identity numbers. I was told to remember mine and it is indelibly printed in my mind to the day NHWX129-3.

May 1941 we finally went home and my parents decided to try again Mother became pregnant again. She had neither the space, the money or the will to cope and had been banking on going back to teaching the minute my first sister was five 鈥� there were no nurseries in those days. The new air raid shelter in the front room became my 鈥渂edroom鈥� so the baby 鈥� was born March 1942 when I was eight 鈥� could have my little box room and she was perfect and beautiful. Otherwise the shelter was obsolete. It had come too late. There was no more severe blitzing of Liverpool.

Schooling was still a problem so in January 1942. I was sent to the fee paying prep department of a local high school. How my parents scraped together the 3 guineas a term I shall never know.

The rationing and the queues were terrible. Shopping was one of my chores. Saturday morning was a 2-3 hr queue at the cake shop for 5 concrete (short bread) biscuits; An enormous green grocery shop which nearly pulled my arms out; then a long queue at the fish shop for a rabbit 鈥� because rabbit wasn鈥檛 on the ration and was cheap. 1943/4 the potato harvest failed. My poor mother, hearing that potatoes were going to be scarce, ordered a whole sackful 鈥� only to find that the whole lot were rotten 鈥� and the government rationed bread. I am sure that if the Germans had realise how close to starvation this country was early in 1944 we would never have won the war.
Stories began to emerge about the horrors inflicted on prisoners of war and in the concentration camps. I didn鈥檛 think I slept at all for about 6 months. I used to peg my eye lids open wit my fingers in a total state of horror. I tried not to hear the things but they were every headline.

But there were the good times too 鈥� parcels from New Zealand and America. And the SINGING 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to hang out our washing on the Siegfried linr, have you any daily washing mother dear?鈥�! Vera Lynn, Gracey Fields and the rest. Thank God for them all.

Then, wonders of wonders D Day. Everyone glued to the radio. And Easter 1945 VE Day. NEVER will I forget the bonfires -which of course had been banned like fireworks for 6 years- people brought all the mattresses out of their Anderson shelters and piled them in a huge cone and then TORE DOWN all the huts belonging to the ack ack station and piled on all the floor boards, ceilings, walls, everything till the thing was as high as a house with all the hoarded fireworks interspersed and a great effigy of Hitler on the top. We went WILD- no one could have stopped us, and with an almost endless supply of wood to keep it going we were up all night. V J was for me almost an anti-climax but I was in Hindley again and we had great street parties.

People forget but, for the British, Lordship didn鈥檛 end with VJ it was a very long time before all the prisoners of war came back a some of them never recovered. The Americans made this totally bankrupt nation pay back every penny of the Marshall Plan loan. While at the same time funding the Germans to rebuild and recoup their economy. Where would America have been if we hadn鈥檛 been there to bear the brunt of the war? Our rationing went on till 1953. When I went to France to stay with a family and learn French in 1949 it seemed like a land flowing with milk and honey!

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