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Life in World War Two for a civilian

The following is the result of an interview carried out by my, then, 11 year old daughter with her grandmother, Edna Russ who was latterly know as Meg. This was part of a project that she had to do for school on World War Two. The children had to interview people who had been through the war and she felt that it would be a good idea to speak to someone other than someone who had served in the forces to get a different perspective on life.

Meg was 11 years old when the war started. She lived in Morden near London and though the prospect of war was extremely exciting. Getting fitted for a gas mask was another thing she found exciting, (her brother, who was 7, could agree with her there, he found it quite frightening). They used to practise whilst sitting around the table until they could wear their gas masks for at least half an hour.

Meg wasn鈥檛 evacuated, her mother didn鈥檛 want her to be, but most of her school was and most them went to Australia. Meg didn鈥檛 go to school for 3 months at the beginning of the war. She used to go in one week, collect homework, do it at home and take it back the following week. After a few months Morden Farm Central School opened and she was transferred there because it was nearer to her house.

Her father didn鈥檛 go out to fight for he was quite ill at the time. He was a blacksmith and the fumes affected his chest. He鈥檇 been in the 1914 鈥� 1918 War and had been blown up. As a result of this he had pneumonia. He also developed emphysema so as well as having asthma, the emphysema made it extremely hard to breathe and walk at the same time.

Meg had an air raid shelter in her back garden. It was an Anderson Shelter and they planted flowers over the top. There was one problem, due to very hard downpours of rain and the fact that there was no proper floor, there were floods in the shelter. People lent them pumps and they had to pump all the water out.

At first it was quite scary to hear the sire start up, but people soon got used to it and calmed down. At school, pupils became excellent at mental maths and other types of maths, reciting poems and everything else that didn鈥檛 involved writing because they would practise in the shelters.

Her area was bombed during the war. Her road was bombed but the bomb went so deep into the clay that all they got was smashed windows. Other roads were quite so lucky, e.g. Sheldon Drive and Hillcross Avenue. It was a very strange feeling to hear bombers flying overhead. 鈥淎s I heard the whooshing noise I knew that the bomber was going elsewhere and I just thought 鈥楾hank God鈥欌��, she remembered. She described Doodlebugs as strange things.

Meg loved bananas so didn鈥檛 think very highly about rationing. Only children aged 5 or under were allowed bananas so Meg couldn鈥檛 have them until long after the war. She also hated the margarine they had. Meg says 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a very exciting diet, but it was a healthy one.鈥�

Before anything happened at the beginning it was hard to believe there was going to be a war. Everyone was convinced that it would be over by Christmas. However, further into the war, it was difficult to believe that it would ever some to an end.

Meg celebrated the end of the war with a huge street party. Rationing carried on for quite some time after the war. It was still going on in 1952 when she got married.

Meg鈥檚 uncle Alec was what she called a soldier/sailor. He war a soldier鈥檚 uniform and a sailor鈥檚 cap. Since he was called Alec, Meg and her family gave him the codename 鈥淐ale鈥�. He was on a Russia Convoy and is ship was blown up. He was blasted into the air and down into the icy cold sea below. This happened to him twice! He ended up in hospital and always had the shakes. He was a tormented person for quite a while after that. Alec was sent back to England and he went to work in a very big posh called Jacksons.

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