大象传媒

The following interview was planned and carried out by my son Mark Adams in February 2003, when he was 13 years old, for a Warwick School History Project.

Both Mark and my mother-in-law (Mrs Sylvia Kaye) have agreed that this interview can be published on the 大象传媒i WW2 website.

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An interview with my grandmother, Mrs Sylvia Kaye who was born on 5th November 1922 and who lived in London during World War 2

What did you feel like when you heard that WW2 had broken out?

鈥淲ell it came as a great shock, because I was about l6 years old and I just couldn鈥檛 believe it, it came as a great shock. I thought it would never happen, but it did happen. But the first year was very quiet, there were no bombs falling, there were no air raids and we all thought it would go on like that. But unfortunately it didn鈥檛. By the second year bombs were falling, people were getting killed and the government organised air-raid shelters which we had to go into to take shelter. We were also issued with gas masks that we had to wear, most people put them on the minute they heard an air raid, thinking that there was going to be a gas attack but luckily there were no gas attacks. But bombs were falling all around and lots of people were getting killed, Some people took a chance, carrying on as usual, but many of them never came back. They went out and never came back! When we reached the age of 20, women were called up to do war work, which I did until the war finished in 1945. Young men were called up at 18. Both my brothers served in the armed forces.鈥�

鈥淎nd then there was rationing. We had to have ration books that meant you got very little (food), everybody got very little and the shopkeepers stamped our cards. We had to make the rations last through the week and there was a shortage of fruit. If a ship came in and brought fruit we would all queue up but unfortunately, a lot of the ships were torpedoed and didn鈥檛 make it so there was little fruit about.鈥�

鈥淭hings went on like that and when it was getting really bad the young people were evacuated. They were sent out of London, into the country, or to the north of England to stay with strangers and they had to stay there until the war was over. It was heartbreaking, a lot of mothers had to leave their children, but some of the mothers went with the young children.鈥�

鈥淧eople were paid for taking children in. Whole schools were evacuated to the North or South of England.鈥�

What was wearing gas masks like?

鈥淚t was awful, it was stifling, it was all rubber with a sort of plastic front piece for the eyes and you wore it right over your face and it was unbearable. When we had to go into the shelter, for the first couple of days we had to sit there with the masks on all the time, thinking there would be a gas attack but luckily there was no gas attack. But the war went on and on.鈥�

Did you do any duties during the War?

鈥淥h yes, there were fire duties. I didn鈥檛 do that because I was too young, but a lot of people who were older (especially older men) had to do fire duties. If a building was set on fire, they had to go and help with the fire and rescue anyone they could. There were various duties that people did to help with the war effort. Some of my friends worked with the Land Army on farms and others joined the Women鈥檚 Royal Artillery Corps.鈥�

鈥淚 did war work in several different locations around London. I was trained in engineering and was drafted out to Sidcup and Thames Ditton to work on electrical components for submarines and planes. This meant that I had to live away from home and it was quite difficult for me because I was worried about my family and the bombing raids.

The factory at Sidcup was built underground and was set in some lovely countryside. The factory at Thames Ditton originally made sports cars but was converted for military use, to make planes.鈥�

Did you ever experience a bombing raid and how would you describe it?

鈥淚t was horrific, it really was. Do you know the bombs that came over, the rockets we called the doodlebugs used to hum. They used to hum as they came over. The air raid sirens would go on, and when the humming stopped you knew they were going to drop! That was a frightening time.鈥�

鈥淢y sister was married with a young baby and a rocket landed on her block of flats, luckily it didn鈥檛 explode or they would have been killed. But many people I knew were killed by the rockets, they were very bad. There were barrage balloons in the sky to detect the rockets as they flew into London. Once, when I was on my way home from work on the train into London there was a doodlebug flying over the train, I could hear it hum. It was travelling with us! Then it stopped humming. I thought it would fall on the train but it didn鈥檛. It was the last year of the war and that rocket destroyed a whole block of flats and later I heard that it had taken an entire street with it. I think that was one of the last rockets to fall in 1945.鈥�

What was life like in the air-raid shelters?

鈥淲ell, actually, it wasn鈥檛 too bad really, we made each other laugh. Although we were all afraid we had to put on a brave face. We tried to forget what was going on outside.
All we were thinking about was the people around us inside the shelter. Sometimes the raid lasted half an hour, the longest it would last was an hour and when it was over the all-clear siren would sound and we would go back to our houses. But if the air raid siren went off at night there were many people who did not want to get up and go out to the shelters and, unfortunately, some of them were killed in their beds when bombs hit their houses. But then some rockets fell on to the shelters, so you couldn鈥檛 win!鈥�

What were your rations like?

鈥淎 little bit of most things. There were coupons for a little butter, tea, sugar, meat, all the basic things were covered. There were more coupons for larger families so they had enough. Each person had very little but we did manage, we were alright. A lot of people carried on as usual, but there were no big shops like supermarkets, there were only small shops at that time and there were always long queues for this or that. People got used to queuing.鈥�

鈥淲hen the war ended we couldn鈥檛 believe it was over. It was so lovely to go out and feel safe again, but there wasn鈥檛 much about in the shops. Food, clothes, furniture were still scarce and it took a long time to get back to normal. But you really appreciated things when they were available at last.鈥�

When the blackouts were first enforced what did people think about them? Did they think it was a nuisance or did they see that they were necessary? How was the blackout enforced?

鈥淒uring the blackout you had to be very careful to have dark curtains and to draw the curtains carefully at night so as not to show any light. If you showed a light you got a warning. But some people forgot to draw the curtains. After the first warning people were fined. The authorities were very strict about it because the German bombers could use any light they saw to as a target and so whole areas of London could be at risk.鈥�

鈥淲indows were also protected from blast damage with sticky tape in an X shape across the glass, to avoid shattering. All the windows in our house were taped across. But many houses and flats were hit and destroyed. These had to be replaced and there was a lot of house building after the war.鈥�

鈥淓ven with the blackout and the risk of bombing many young people still went out in the evenings to the cinema or dancing and I can still remember coming home one evening after a heavy bombing raid when it seemed that all of London was burning. There were fires everywhere on my way home, I was terrified. The whole of London was ablaze and I saw it all! It was amazing.鈥�

How did the blackout affect your life?

鈥淲ell you only noticed it in the winter months. In the summer time it was light until late and you really didn鈥檛 notice the restrictions. When the nights drew in, only then did you feel it. Remember, there was no television then and we only had a radio.鈥�

Were you always convinced that the Allies would win the war?

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think so. We hoped. We were living in hope! But there was no certainty. The British were fighting back with all their might. They couldn鈥檛 have done any more than they did and they succeeded. A lot of lives were lost but the effort they made was marvellous.鈥�

How did you feel at the end of the war?

鈥淲hen the war was over it was wonderful. It took six years out of everybody鈥檚 life. We felt exulted. Everyone was overjoyed. We held parties in the streets. It was as if somebody had lifted you up and given you a hug. It was the most wonderful feeling when war was over. The war had been horrendous.鈥�

Thank you.

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