大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Lincolnshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Doug Atter and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Atter fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

Whilst being too young to understand what the war was all about, you did see the difference it was making to other people鈥檚 lives. In my case it was when my two oldest brothers started to come home and go away again in army uniforms. It would seem that having been in the Army Reserves they were amongst the first young men to volunteer to go and fight against Hitler and Germany.

I can remember quite clearly watching them set light to the Brasso they had put onto the brass buttons of their tunics and overcoats. This, they told me, would give their buttons a really good shine.

My third eldest brother, who joined the RAF as soon as he could, was a wireless operator/air gunner on Lancaster bombers. I remember him coming home one afternoon. He had the fur lined leather jacket and boots that you now see in the old newsreels and films. He was stationed in Cambridgeshire at the time but it seemed that the bomber had landed close by and that he had come to visit Mum whilst he had the chance.

I can remember all the windows in the house having brown paper stuck diagonally across them. This was to stop the glass flying all over the room and injuring people if a bomb exploded close by.

We used to have a Morrison shelter in the corner of the front room and although it took up quite a bit of room, it provided an extra place to play on when it was raining and you couldn鈥檛 go out to play. It was meant to protect the whole family during an air raid so sometimes during the night you would be woken up as Dad took us from our bed and placed in the steel shelter. It was a bit of a squash in there with Mum, Dad and five children but you felt safe. Although one night I remember being taken from the house to a reception centre because a bomb had hit the house opposite. You could see the roof hanging in mid air with the smoke and flames all around. It was some years before the house was rebuilt.

I clearly remember having to try on a gas mask because the front of it was made to look like Mickey Mouse. It even had a red nose that made a funny squeaking sound when you breathed out quickly. The small babies were put into a contraption that completely covered them, with air being pumped in from the side.

If you were at school a siren would be sounded if an air raid was about to start so the teacher would march you quickly to the school stock room where you would be asked to be quiet so as not to upset the younger children, and where you tried to be as brave as possible whilst the raid was on!

My younger brothers and I used to walk through the fields, to nearby Spitalgate Aerodrome to watch the planes take off and land. One of the fields we walked through had a huge concrete tank in it that held millions of gallons of water to be used to fight any fires in the nearby vicinity if the main water pipe had been broken by any bombs being dropped nearby. We liked to go to the aerodrome because we had heard of other kids finding shell cases and bits of aluminium off aircraft nearby so we were hoping to find something similar to keep as a souvenir but there were armed guards to keep inquisitive kids like us at a distance.

If the telegram boy went to anyone鈥檚 house it usually meant that someone in that family had been killed or was missing in action so my most vivid memory is of seeing the telegram boy come to our house in December 1944 and February 1945. I saw my Mum was upset but I was sent to fetch my father from the factory where he worked. As they grieved together I was told that two of my elder brothers had been killed in action.

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