大象传媒

The War which Gave Me a Future

"as told by Ron Bunday. This story has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

My name is Ron and my story starts when I was born in 1935 in Waterlooville in Hampshire. I was four years old when the war started.

One of my first memories is listening to the wireless with my whole family and waiting for the broadcast. It was about 11 o clock in the morning when the announcer told us that war was imminent. We were given advice about how to protect against bombs by hiding under stairs etc. We also had an Anderson shelter which all had to go down when we heard the siren.

The siren was the most terrifying noise you could ever here and words cannot explain how much fear it would instil.

I remember I went to a local toy shop to buy some lead toy soldiers, when the siren went off. The shop assistant sent me straight home to my scared parents who were worried where I had got to. I found it all quite exiting as well as being quite scared as well.

I also remember the dogfights we saw in the skies over us. We would all shout and cheer the British planes as they fought above us. It was all so exiting. We never believed that the British planes could get shot down but we now know that they did.

My eldest brother who was still a teenager of about seventeen was sent off to war in the marines. We all looked up to my brother and were scared about him going to war. It was as if he just disappeared. I think he went whilst I was asleep.

My two sisters were evacuated to Tadley near Basingstoke. The rest of the family went up to Kirkwall naval base on the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

Another memory was when the V for victory sign was first used after Winston Churchill gave the sign. We all had metal Victory badges which we wore with pride. It gave us a laugh that if any pictures shown of prisoners of war they often made the V sign the other way round. This was a sign used to tell us that the prisoner was actually saying 鈥淚鈥檓 ok and up you! To the Germans鈥�.

During the ages of six and eight I was evacuated from Orkneys to join my sisters in Hampshire. It was a very long journey. I was taken down with the soldiers and had to sleep in on a luggage rack. The soldiers really made a fuss of me and made me feel safe.

After getting moved around different homes I was back in another home in Tadley. I lived in a vicarage and was looked after by two district nurses. The nurses taught me a great deal and gave me a good education of which has always kept me in good stead.

The most terrifying thing in the war was the Doodlebugs. They were the flying bombs that used to come over. I remember all of us listening in silence to the low drone and waiting for it to stop. In this period of silence you would sit and wait for about thirteen seconds wondering if you would be the one to die

Another memory is going to Aldermaston airfield for a day out. This was the first time I had met Americans. They were great and full of life and generous to the children. At that time the saying 鈥済ot any gum chum鈥� was known by all the children.

Whilst at the airfield we saw the training and build up of the gliders that were being used for D Day. I saw an enormous glider doing a vertical dive and pulling out to land. It was a feat I have never seen since.

A few weeks later I was standing in a field and watched the Dakota aircraft towing the gliders knowing that D Day had started. The sky was black with aircraft. They all had white and black stripes on their wings and body. This was to distinguish the allies from the enemy.

I remember being with my best friend Clement Wheeler as we cheered the aircraft as they left. To this day I still feel a bit guilty about this because in truth we were cheering them on to their deaths.

Later on my friend Clement came to me and gave me a penknife saying that he was going away and I haven鈥檛 seen or heard from him since. As children we were never told anything about what was happening, we had to learn for ourselves.

Soon after this all the evacuated children had to go for a medical at Basingstoke. This resulted in a small minded doctor saying that it was bad for a boy to be living with two women. Because of this I was sent to another children鈥檚 home in the New Forrest. I hated this place. It was a huge mansion and very intimidating and ruled with an iron fist. The boys would always be trying to escape. Even when our parents came to collect us we were not told until the last second. We were not even given a chance to say goodbye to our friends.

By this time the war was coming to a close and I was back at home in Portsmouth.

When we got back the part of town where I lived was completely devastated. Our playgrounds were brick dumps where the lads would make dens from these we would have brick fights with each other pretending to be throwing grenades at the enemy. It may have seemed dangerous but we were just having fun and bricks weren鈥檛 thrown to cause any hurt. I remember riding my bike around a path made across the bomb sites and one particular place I had to ride round a bomb crater of which I used to always fall in. To this day I can still pin point where that hole was.

Then we had the street parties for V E Day. What a party! Everyone did their bit to make us children happy. Mind you the adults had a greater party for which we were sent to bed early so we wouldn鈥檛 see what going on.

My war experience was something that I treasure for the way it molded my way of life right up to my retirement and beyond. I now live in a lovely bungalow and live a very happy life with my wife.

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