大象传媒

july 1942.sent back home from rugeley boys camp. now aged 14 to start work.i was apprenticed to a joiners shop at tube investments at rocky lane. on war work.most nights when there was an air raid we went down the cellar into an anderson shelter that dad somehow got into the bottom .this was at number 55 frederick road aston.it was so damp and cold, that some times we went into aston park shelter that was dug under the tennis courts.some nights there was a bofors anti aircraft gun stationed at the park gates just around the corner.making a terrific noise.There was a barrage baloon site close by.After one raid us boys went shrapnel hunting,.There was lots of holes in the ground likegolf holes where incendary bombs went in. hooray! we found a live one about two feet long marked of in 4 inch spaces,probably for types of filling.there was a shout and an airman from the site took it off us with a promise of a warm backside.there was rumours that if we took a hundred weight of shrapnel to victoria road police station we could have a steel helmet.no such luck just a rumour.i can remember the vine pub being bombed and still staying open.i biked one day up to town to ponds ironmongers to get my first working tools needed a chit to say I was on war work.mom worked at ansells brewery on bottle inspection this entitled her to a family pass to the brewery air raid shelter.It was three floors down.(I remember this being dug in about 1937)There was an emergency operating theatre down there It was in use for several nights in July 1943 some very bad raids retaliation for us bombing Hamburg.I wanted to be a wardens messenger on a bike but Mom said no.I joined the army cadets at Witton Barracks 1/8 Warwicks. The G.P.O.used the place after the war.Thefamily moved to kingsstanding early 1944 there was thousands of american soldiers at Pheasey estate in tents and houses built just before the war by DARES Builders but not sold.there was a queue a mile long after the war to buy them at拢430!!! each. Cigarettes we got for 3pence a packet for 20.June 1944 it became a ghost area the men had gone to France.The Americans burned tons of good bedding and furniture when they left much to the annoyance of local people.This was done on a sand quarry of Chester Road now built on.
Iremember pre war the digging of air raid shelters in the Aston Park and Potatoe growing.In raids trams lined up one behind the other the whole length lenth of Witton Road? and Park Road.right throught to the tram sheds.

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