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EVACUEE RETURNS TO BOMBING

I was at school in Birmingham when the war started. I remember listening to Mr Chamberlain’s speech on the radio, and in our street people were standing about in little groups talking about the war. Later I saw all the children outside the local school, and lines of Corporation buses waiting to take them away. After the buses had pulled away I remember an eerie silence, an empty street, and many of the Mothers with tears streaming down their face.

My Mother sent me away privately to Kewstoke, nearWeston-Super-Mare. I went to the local school and because I was the only evacuee, I was referred to as the ‘vaccy’. I remained there for almost two years. My Mother brought me back to Birmingham, and on the first night we had a heavy air raid. As my Father had not completed our Anderson shelter, I was taken to a neighbour’s shelter. As my parents were in the A.R.P. as wardens, they were on duty during the raid. The shelter had about a foot of water in it, and we spent the night sitting on planks, with our feet on boxes. It was a very heavy raid, and bombs were dropping quite close. After the ‘all clear’ siren had sounded, my Father came for me.

We lived in an industrial area, and many factories were on fire. The sky was red all around, and I remember one could have read a book by the light. There were still explosions, and I remember hearing gun shots. There was a large railway yard close by, and because of the intense fire, they were unable to get the trapped cart horses out, and the Home Guard were shooting them.

My Father who was a tool maker, went to work without any sleep, to find his factory had been badly bombed. Together with the other workers, they managed to get it back in production within a few days.

My Father completed the shelter, and I spent many nights sleeping down there during the coming months. After a raid, my Father would return promptly, and always went into the house to make tea, which he brought to us.

When I was at school and the sirens sounded, we all went down into the basement boiler room, where we all sat surrounded by the central heating pipes. I dread to think what would have happened if the school had been hit.

I also remember mobile showers coming into the playground, and we had to have a shower two at a time. I never did return to Kewstoke, and remained in Birmingham throughout the air raids, and until the end of the war.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by June Woodhouse of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Vera Devey and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions

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