大象传媒

D-Day

Everyone knew that D-Day was coming, there were massive movements of troops along the south coast and I remember going over Portsdown Hill and seeing soldiers with their tanks and guns camping in the woods.
My school was on the south side of the main road from Portsmouth to Southampton and we lived on the north side.
At that time we went home for lunch and when we were returning to school we frequently were unable to cross the main road because of the military convoys. The convoys seemed to stretch for miles and took a long time to pass and of course they stopped for nothing! We were stranded and were late back to school on many a day, however all we had to say to the teacher was that "There was a convoy Miss!" and that was the end of the matter.
I can also recall seeing Mulberry Harbours in the sea, large concrete structures shaped like shoe boxes, but I didn't know what they were for.
Sometimes when I went to school there would be lines of military vehicles parked in the side roads and women would be giving the troops cups of tea.
I don't remember seeing many American soldiers at that time except when my mother took me to Winchester for the day, there were Americans everywhere, mainly just hanging about and getting in the way. But other than that we didn't seem to have many around Portchester.

From our bungalow up on the hill we had a very good view of the harbour, in those days we had a large navy and we could clearly see the battleships, destroyers and submarines moored down in Portsmouth Harbour.
Portsmouth of course was full of sailors but then it always was, I remember that in those days members of the armed forces were always seen out and about in uniform, not civies. The Royal Navy had dark blue caps throughout the winter but on the first of May would wear a white cover over their caps until October. Whether this was still the case during the war I'm not sure.
Anyway it was clear that something big was about to happen and of course it did, suddenly all the military, much of the navy, and the Mulberry Harbours were gone, the invasion had started!

In many respects I have very few memories of D-Day which seems incredible now, it was after all a momentous event. But by this stage of the war things had settled down, the air raids had virtually stopped and we had become accustomed to rationing, shortages and restrictions. For youngsters this was normal life and we just accepted that we would win the war one day and it would all be over. We didn't comprehend what the cost of the invasion would be in terms of deaths, injuries and suffering, we just got on with living our lives.

In 1944 I passed the eleven plus examination to go to the Grammar school,
I was due to start there in September and for the summer term I was sent to the Senior School in Portchester. During my time there we had a two hour period of gardening every week, this was, I believe a hangover from the Dig for Victory campaign.

But while I was there something happened which I have never forgotten, I don't think it would be something which would be allowed today. All the children, that would be between the ages of eleven and sixteen, were mustered in the main hall, we were all told to sit on the floor and informed that we were to see a film. The film shown to us was of the troops relieving the Nazi concentration camp at Belsen. We were shown very detailed, graphic pictures of the inmates of the camp and the conditions in which they had been living. Pictures of men and women who most closely resembled living skeletons in their striped pyjama-like uniforms, the huts with the long lines of bunks, the barbed wire fences with the guard towers, the gas chambers, the mass graves still to be filled, all these were shown to us. Worst of all however were the piles of human bodies waiting for disposal, they looked more like bundles of white sticks than people.
The expression on the faces of the people was of hope accompanied by fear that somehow this could be only a dream and they would awake to the degradation, suffering and fear that had been their life for so long. This is something I shall never forget, I found it difficult to believe that this could be, that people could be treated in this fashion.
I suppose the purpose in showing this film to us was to make us very much aware of what we had been fighting for, that this was the evil of Nazi rule.
It was horrific and I could not imagine that the screening of this film for children could be repeated today, there would be too great an outcry.
But I for one will never forget it!

The end of the War

By the end of 1944 things had settled into a routine, as far as we children were concerned this was normal life, air raids had virtually stopped, we were used to shortages and rationing and we seemed to be winning the war. I can't say that I remember suffering in any way, I was just happy to be going to the grammar school!

In the early part of 1945 it was obvious that the war was drawing to a close, it was just a question of when. At the beginning of May we were all awaiting the news that the war was over and the main concern of everyone at my school was would we get a day's holiday!
At last the great day dawned, the war was over, we had won! I don't remember great celebrations in the streets where we lived, just a sense of relief, everyone in my family had survived unharmed, we had been lucky. A little later there was a street party, everyone lent tables and chairs and hoarded rations were brought out to make the most of a feast for the children.
I seem to remember jelly and blancmange and ice cream, cakes and a large iced cake of some sort. I think at that time it meant more to the adults than the children, we just accepted it!
A bonfire was set up on a piece of waste land with a fancy dress parade, games and food and music and yet of course it was only the war in Europe that had ended, but that was our V.E. day! The war with Japan finished much later and by then celebrations were rather more muted, I suppose for most people Europe was the one which mattered and V.J. Day tended to be quieter.
There was another party for the children with more food which took place in someone's back garden, the highlight of this was the showing of various cartoon films, black and white of course, in the owner of the garden's garage.
But that was it, the end of the war, it was all over and people felt so relieved,
and many, I'm sure, believed that things would now get back to normal quite quickly. I don't think anyone had thought that things would still be so difficult for so long after with even more shortages.
Most children, unless they or their family had personally suffered loss in any way, took it all in their stride. We didn't feel particularly hard done by, we were just youngsters growing up and in the main we enjoyed life to the full. That was how this child saw it, from six and a half years old to eleven, that was my life and my war.

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