大象传媒

Village Life.
J. Manners
Walberton Sussex England.
I lived in Walberton, a village between Ford and Tangmere aerodromes. An active area, planes, guns, barrage balloons and German planes. Then doodle bugs often active around and over us. Without seeing them we could tell the difference between enemy or friendly engines above, we felt afraid of German engines. Planes and men frequently fell from the skies above. One man went feet first into Binsted pond and stuck in the mud up to his waist stone dead. His chute had not opened. My father was often out helping, once he ran across Wyatts fields to a crashed plane well alight nothing could be done to help the pilot.
One day I, with a few other children, were playing in my grandfather鈥檚 field by our house when Dicky shouted 鈥淒uck鈥� we were taught to duck and so fell flat on our faces, prostrate on the grass. A crashing plane came above us, very low, travelling south to north, skimmed across the main street houses and missing the village school fell in the field by the children鈥檚 playing area, it was burning and made a big crater there.

My father was in the Home Guard, a sergeant, he worked on his dad鈥檚 farm by day and guarded the coast with his duties at night. Canadian soldiers were occupying Lord Walton鈥檚 home Walberton House, by the Church. Lord Walton was the Minister for Food. The Home Guard had an exercise to carry out. They had to enter the house and take it over from the Canadians 鈥� a surprise entry. My father took the milk cart from the farm, looking like the usual milkman and gained entry to the main office in the house. He was triumphant.

The village children were given a party in the house by the soldiers when identity cards were to be issued and also tags, when we all had to be given a number. My father helped locally to do this. We were constantly carrying our gas masks in a light brown case made of strong cardboard. They had a long strap over one shoulder and across our chest. When issued, my young sister had a Mickey Mouse mask and when my baby brother was born in 1943 he had a big one in which he was placed bodily.

I hate the warning of an air raid, the wail up and down, makes me shiver even now. When the second warnings wailed we knew German planes were close. My most frightening time was when some distance from home the second warnings sounded and I rushed home thinking I would be safe there. I recall my angry father taking pot shots at enemy aircraft flying over the farmyard with his Home Guard rifle.

When our lane was filled with American and Canadian army trucks, bumper to bumper, we enjoyed their gifts of chewing gum. Our baby brother鈥檚 pram could not be pushed out of the garden because of the trucks so soldiers lifted it over their lorry to the lane on the other side. They were there for several days and then one day they had all gone. I imagine this was prior to the Invasion of Normandy.

Both my sister and I had red hair. My cousin who was staying with us from Worcester Park near London also had red hair, whereas my youngest sister did not so the Americans thought she was the evacuee and my cousin was our sister. We had an evacuee from Tooting living with us for a while and she came to school with us. I remember pulling her hair once during a quarrel, poor girl, as we were crossing the field on our way home from school.

We also had a Land Girl, aged 17, to stay with us for a while who also worked on our farm. My grandmother had two brothers to stay with us from London where they would be safer. They had very bad table manners and wet the bed so their bed linen was hung from the windows for all to see.

JM

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