大象传媒

These are the words of my father:

'I suppose a good place to start would be, to coin a phrase, the day war broke out.

Pushing brother Bob on our home made 'trolley' on that Sunday morning, 3rd September 1939, it was a perfect late summer day. Through the open windows of the houses we passed came the sound of Mr Neville Chamberlain's voice informing everyone that a 'state of war exists between Great Britain and Germany'. As this was expected we slowly made our way home.

For me, the big event of the next few months was the digging of a very large hole between ours and our neighbours to accomodate our joint Anderson Shelter. Christmas 1939 came and went, Dad and brother Bob continued working. Our neighbour's son was evacuated to Lincoln with his school and our neighbour a WW1 veteran, joined the local Defence Volunteers. I thought it was all a bit of a bore. Then came May 1940.

The radio news bulletins were full of the happenings in France and Belgium. Then, in due course came the Dunkirk evacuation. As the Summer came we began to see con trails in the sky and once I remember hearing machine-gun fire from the planes. The Spring of 1940 saw me sitting the entrance examination for Coventry Technical College and I commenced there in the Autumn term. From Autumn onwards we did have the occasional Air Raid warning but it did not amount to much in Coventry until November 14th.

The sirens sounded, as I recall at approximately 6.45pm and we made an orderly retreat to the waiting Anderson Shelter and met the neighbours. Their eldest son was known as the 'messenger', his job being to keep central damage control informed of damage in the districts. He therefore did not appear in our shelter. The first of the German bombers came shortly after 7pm. They kept up a continous bombardment until the small hours of the 15th November. In fact, they had rather more bombs than we had anti-aircraft shells because the guns ceased firing around midnight. We must have had a few hours sleep on the bench because I remember leaving the shelter at around 7am.

The family then decided it would be a good idea for us to get away to a more quiet area until the raids had finished (no one was in any doubt they would finish). We chose Barmouth, Mid-Wales as a great friend of the family had taken-up residence there for the duration. We stuck it out until, I think, about February 1941. Dad, who stayed in Coventry was able to spend Christmas with us. The next big raids to affect Coventry were in April 1941 and we were bombed far more in our district than in the previous November. We had two particulary heavy raids, one of which resulted in an incendiary bomb penetrating our roof. We managed to remove some as it had only partially ignited and others that were dropped in the gardens were dealt with by us and our neighbours in the approved fashion i.e. stirrup pump and a bucket of water. I was thirteen at the time and it was all very exciting.

Then the raids did finish, at least as far as Coventry was concerned. Life got back to normal. I continued attending the Technical College, getting there on my trusty bicycle as most people did. Brother Bob was called into the Army in January 1942, going into basic training at Budbrooke Barracks, Warwick. I finished my two years at the College in July 1942 and we were able to take a holiday in Blackpool in August 1942. I commenced employment with a firm of Accountants in Coventry as an 'office boy', as the office was in the city centre I do remember the number and variation of uniforms there were milling around. The Americans were over here by now, their nearest base being Stoneleigh Deer Park. The year of 1942 came to a close and as I don't remember much about 1943 other than working, cycling at weekends and listening to ITMA on the radio, I must assume it was rather uneventful at our house.

1944 started and I do remember the build-up of troops. Coventry was chock full of American troops. black and white. The 'Snow-drops', American Military Police (so called because of their white helmets) were very busy settling disputes between the races. Eventually D-Day arrived. I remember seeing planes overhead bearing two white stripes proceeding in a south-easterly direction. We were all glued to the radio to hear what was going on. My brother went over on the 8th June and of course we were especially anxious about him. He was now in the Reconaissance Corps so we knew he would be at the front of everyone else. On to the Autumn and once again we had a gaggle of planes flying over us, this time towing gliders. This was, of course, to Arnhem.

Christmas 1944 arrived. Things were getting easier and I don't remember any shortages although I'm sure there were. All through this time we were having letters from brother Bob. Although they were censored we knew he had spent some time in Brussels. Then, in early April 1945, three weeks before VE Day, we received the dreaded telegram, delivered as per usual by the telegraph boy. Bob had been killed in action on the Belgian/German border. Mother especially, was absolutely devastated and there were no VE Day celebrations at our house.

That was my War, really. I was called up into the RAF shortly after VJ Day and have had a reasonably happy life since then.

As a footnote, I was looking at my brother's Pay Book recently and note that he was unable to take advantage of his pay rise to 4/6d(22p)a day - awarded to him shortly before his death.'

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.