大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by Three Counties Action, on behalf of Gladys Hayhurst, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

My name is Gladys Hayhurst (nee Wood).
I was born at the start of the war at 7 Sawtrey Close, Carshalton, Surrey.
The houses were situated around a green. During the war people living in the Close were like a big family. I was the youngest of three sisters. My dad, a sergeant in the Royal Artillery, was sent to France with his regiment.

On my first birthday Dad sent me a little embroidered card from Paris (I still possess that card, it is 65 years old). Dad was at Dunkirk.

My first memory of the war was the sound of air raid sirens. When the warning siren sounded Mum and dad came and took us from our bed, they carried us girls down into the Anderson shelter. It was so damp, dark and cold. If ever I think of that shelter I can smell it still. If it was a bad raid we were very frightened and unable to sleep. Dad and Mum would sing and inevitably we would join in the singing.

After a raid when everyone came from their shelters, neighbours would call to each other to make sure they were okay. At times when the raids were very bad, we had to go straight into the shelter after our baths. No chance of us going to our comfortable beds. Some times in the evening we would stand in the garden and look up at the search lights.

The dreadful Gas Mask

Mum made us practice putting it on. I just felt that I couldn鈥檛 breathe. I didn鈥檛 like the awful smell of rubber. It made me feel sick.

Every morning, my sisters and I were given the aqful cod liver oil, a large spoonful of malt and calcium tablets, if you weren鈥檛 sick then you were lucky.

The sadness of mum when informed that her 18 year old brother, who was fighting in some foreign land, was missing resumed dead.

A day when Mum, some of the neighbours and children walked a few streets away to where two houses had been bombed. Our Mum鈥檚 were cryin and the children very bewildered.

Being very cold in winter, as sometimes we were unable to have a fire, as we couldn鈥檛 get any coal.

Standing in a queue outside a shop, just to get some sausages.

As food was scarce, the men grew vegetables; some had chickens. Everyone shared what they had. My job was to go with a bucket to the neighbours and collect the potato peeling. The peeling would be boiled for the chicken feed.

Dad and Mum took us to my aunty in Wales. Aunty didn鈥檛 have room for all of us. I went to live next door with Mr & Mrs Eggleton, kind loving people.

End of war 1945

We had a big street party. I won the fancy dress competition. I still have a photograph of it. In the evening we had a big bonfire and burned an effigy of Hitler!

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