大象传媒

When war broke out my grandfather, Richard Elliott was 16, and he enlisted himself into the army, and was made an officer. When his family found out they were furious, and they contacted the army immediately to have him removed as he was not 18. However, he refused to come out, so the army arranged for him to train with the Territorial Army until he was 18. He was allowed to keep his army uniform, and his rank.
My grandfather was not part of the first wave of men sent to France with 'Operation Overload'but he was part of the 2nd. wave. He went to France and Germany. When war ended my grandfather and his regiment remained in Germany for another 2 years. He spent time in 3 different areas, but the only one he spoke about was Dusseldorf. When he came home, all he said about the war and his experiences was that the last 2 years he had spent in Germany were the worst of his life, as he was permanently watching his back as the people hated them.
I do not know his regimental name, but I assume it was a Bedfordshire one.
My Grandmother Ruby was a child when war broke out.Her family lived about 40 miles from London. She recalled that when the sirens sounded that she and her 2 sisters went into a cupboard under the stairs as they did not have a shelter. There was no room for her parents, so they stayed in a room. "We could hear the 'planes going overhead, the sound was quite un-nerving".As time went on and the Americans entered the war she could see the 'planes flying out of RAF CHICKSANDS which was only a few miles away. "Sometimes when they were on their way back, they sounded quite Lame".
An evacuee came to live with them whose family had lost their home in the blitz. She recalled how the bike and car lights had to be very dim, and that there were no street lighs at all, and that everyhouse in the village with iron gates and railings had them removed. She also remembered the day the road signs were taken down.
In Letchworth, there was a Parachute Factory, and the people who worked there were allowed to bring home any spare bits of material to make underwear. Her father kept chickens, and grew his own vegetables because everyone was encouraged to do so. They were lucky having local farms, and sometimes a milkman would come, and they might have fresh milk, but mostly they used the powdered type. When she ran out of clothers, they bought a bed cover, and it was taken to a dressmaker who made her a dress.
Italian Prisoners of war were based locally, and worked on the farms in Stotfold, and the villagers got used to seeing them around the streets. Many of them later went on to live in Hitchin and Bedford.
Her sister who was some years older went on to join the womens voluntary service, and drove lorries.

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