´óÏó´«Ã½

Realising a war was imminent did not seem possible. I lived with my mother, two brothers and three sisters in Church Street, Grimsby. I worked at Lipton’s in Freeman Street. One brother was a ships plumber on the docks in Grimsby and the other worked at Harper Philips Engineering Works. My elder sister worked in a shop and the younger one was still at school.
We learnt that children were going to be evacuated to the countryside. My young sister was one of these. One morning, just before the war started, instead of being sent to school, she joined other children who went to Toynton All Saints, carrying her belongings and wearing a label with her name on it. She was excited, but we were devastated! She was loved so much my all of us and was the baby of the family.
On Sunday, 3rd September Britain had declared war on Germany. At 11.30a.m. the air raid sirens sounded. We wondered if we would die on the first day of the war. Luckily it was a false alarm. For weeks it had been known as the ‘phoney’ war and we grew to be blasé about it. My young brother was 17 years old. His friend, an orphan, had joined up. They made the mistake of wanting to be together but my brother had joined the Navy, whilst his friend had joined the Air Force! Obviously this resulted in the parting of the ways.
In the meantime, with the men being called up for service (or volunteering, as most of them did) I was made a manager at Lipton’s — the youngest manager in England! I was responsible for the rationing of food. People could register at the shop of their choice. The actual fairness of rationing was a fantastic achievement. I am proud of being part of this. I worked every Sunday, counting thousands of coupons to take on Mondays to the food office in the Market Place, where I was given vouchers to replace the food sold. You may wonder why I wasn’t given a Forces job, but I had T.B. and had to spend months in a Sanatorium and so was exempt from service.
I married a Sailor and had a son, after which I returned to work. My sister was a cook in the NAAFI at Killingholme Airfield. We were suffering from regular air raids and my mother’s house in Church Street was hit three times. The final time being 13th July when a large explosion opposite caused a lot of damage. We had not been in the shelter at the time as bombs had already been dropping. I was hurt by debris, which eventually led to my left eye being removed some years later. For this I received a war pension, which is not a good exchange for losing the sight of one’s eye!
By this time the Americans had arrived at Goxhill and my marriage had ended. I had married in haste and regretted this. I eventually made a very special friend with one of the Americans and since the end of the war I have visited America 44 times! He died 5 years ago but I still visit many other friends I have made there.
I married twice more. Once to a petty officer who died and then to a Coldstream Guard warrant officer who was wounded during the war. I had three more sons. He won three Oak Leaves for his bravery and received one of them from the Queen when she visited the hospital he was in. He had received shrapnel wounds, from which he eventually died. He was a very brave man indeed.
My family luckily survived the war. I have many memories. Some lovely and others sad. I can’t believe it is 60 years ago since the war ended. The war left memories of much bravery and many sacrifices by many brave young people. I am proud to be British.

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