大象传媒

Air Raid Shelters

In the course of my family鈥檚 many moves within the South of England, I experienced the emotions of each type of air-raid shelter, the first being a u-shaped structure made of thick steel curved corrugated metal sunk 3 陆 ft below the surface and its roof covered in earth and turf. It was approximately 8 ft long,
5 陆 ft wide with two bunk beds. It was stuffy in the hot summer and damp and smelly and cold in winter and in low lying areas was sometimes feet in water. Rich families built their own concrete or home-made shelters in their gardens. I鈥檝e only seen one such structure still surviving which is in a garden in the town of Gosport where I live. The other type is the street communal shelter, which was a 30ft x 10ft x 7ft high box brick 1ft thick with an 18 inch blast wall in front of it. One of the horror things I saw in London was when a bomb dropped outside the shelter. The 30 odd people inside were all dead without a scratch on their bodies. I was around 12 years old at the time and did not understand the outcome of a high explosive effects; I later did a gunnery course in the navy where I learnt all the power of explosives. One of the houses that I lived in was totally destroyed by a bomb. I was dismayed that a toy metal fire engine that I got for my 5th birthday gift was squashed flat. Toys for WWII children were a luxury 鈥� I can recall making wooden tanks WWI style for my kid brothers and boys my age at the then time of 鈥�43-鈥�44 made wooden scooters, with one large ball bearing placed in front and a smaller one on the back; modern scooters also have a large wheel on the front and a smaller one on the back. They were great fun and I travelled many, many miles around the streets of London witnessing the still burning fires of the previous night鈥檚 bombing raid. Some of the sights were disturbing, bits of bodies etc, which I sometimes have nightmares about, but then WWII was the stuff of nightmares.

When I think back on what I saw, it in a way prepared me for my future in the armed forces and more importantly gave me the courage to face the loss of two sons and a wife to cancer. All those who read this and are suffering the pain of cancer can understand that the pain is shared by their loved ones and although not in the physical, was to me as real as the events of WWII with the modern day nightmares included but also pleasant dreams to equalise. One wonders how many of ones school pals survived the war. I and my brothers and sister thankfully survived. We wonder if our half brother who鈥檚 age would be about 62 survived. He was born at a place called Wheatcheaf Lane in Southwark, London around 1942-43 and was adopted by a couple in Bury St Edmonds. His first name was Thomas, surname Walker or Williams, my then stepfather鈥檚 surname. We also had a step sister by the name of Rosey 鈥� she would now be aged around 68 years old and may have returned to live in Pembroke, Wales where she may have been born, as my stepfather was a Welshman. I don鈥檛 know if he survived WWII as my mother married a third time some 20 years after the war. She lived to the grand old age of 94. I鈥檝e got the impression that we all have a 鈥渟ell by date鈥�; I am hoping I鈥檒l live to 94 but still have my marbles and memories. I鈥檝e read accounts of WWII by people older and younger than me but not anyone my age. My mother lived through two World Wars and had her own horror stories of WWI when she was a child. In her later years she was a nurse who looked after the WWI survivors. I wonder if her story of her life in WWI relates to mine and if she took the trouble to write it down for future war historians or if indeed any other children of WWI have had their WWI stories recorded!

London鈥檚 underground was one of the shelters my family used. It was uncomfortable as we had no mattresses or pillows and we slept in our clothes. I recall that it was windy, where cold, fresh air was pumped down the escalator shafts, plus the fact that the trains ran well into the night and sleep was hard to achieve. There were up to 200 people on the platform, many children despite the fact that so many had been evacuated up country. At various times, I was evacuated, once to Wales and once to Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. While there, I lived with a butcher above his shop; it still exists albeit as a clothes shop selling female attire etc. I was given a pet rabbit which I duly fed till it was a giant! Outside the shop were hooks where pheasants, pigeons and wild rabbits were hung up for sale. Meat on the hook was rationed but not rabbit meat. On return from school one day I spotted this large rabbit hung up alongside the skinny wild rabbits. Needless to say, this shocked me more than the dead bodies I鈥檇 previously seen. I never forgave the butcher for breaking my heart, but it did help me on the hard road to accepting reality and growing up fast.

The D-Day landings were taking place in Fareham and the surrounding districts. Opposite the local church, Canadian tanks were hidden in people鈥檚 gardens and in the large posh houses. It tore up pristine lawns and flower beds and destroyed parts of their flint-stoned front walls. Any protests from the house occupants were met with the familiar cry of 鈥楧ON鈥橳 YOU KNOW THERE鈥橲 A WAR ON!!鈥� and in a lot of cases at night 鈥楾URN OFF THAT **** LIGHT, DON鈥橳 YOU KNOW THERE鈥橲 A BLACKOUT鈥�. About this time the then Mullbery docks were launched into the Solent ready to be towed across the Channel to form the landing jetty for the tanks, guns and supplies to the allied forces鈥� fight to regain Europe. This was exciting for me watching the landing craft load up from Gosport鈥檚 yacht landings where blocks a yard square were laid down on hardcore over the mud-flats so that the tanks etc could be safely loaded onto the landing craft without sinking into the mud.

Most boys I knew thought that the war was over in 1945. We were unaware that the war in Japan was still being fought and had no idea of what an atom bomb was; to us it was like the V2 rockets that landed on Portsmouth. I know I missed a lot of schooling because of the air-raids but I can鈥檛 remember being taught about the ongoing war in Japan or the horrors of Belsen and the mass slaughter of the Jews. All this was later shown on the Pathe Newsreels. Much is said about the young of today, 10 year olds not knowing much about WWII; again I can鈥檛 remember being taught about WWI at school, perhaps it was because I also played truant. I could not foresee how important a good education was needed to get a good job in future years. Perhaps I could have got further up the ladder than my four ranks from beginning to the end of my 14 years in the Royal Navy or a chargehand in civilian occupation. I can read, spell reasonably well and do the basics in Maths and, in my book, I had a world education by seeing most of the world while a serviceman and the rest when I left the Navy. A lot of today鈥檚 10 to 14 year olds can鈥檛 read, spell and are poor in Maths according to the media. So the war, despite its setbacks, gave me enough to be where I am. So there鈥檚 hope for today鈥檚 kids if they keep off drugs etc. We didn鈥檛 need them for a buzz! And there鈥檚 always a war going on in some part of our world. Perhaps when you are my age you will record your memories of your wars for future generations.

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