- Contributed by听
- csvdevon
- People in story:听
- Arthur Stevens
- Location of story:听
- Marldon, South Hams. Devon.
- Article ID:听
- A4090493
- Contributed on:听
- 19 May 2005
This story has been entered onto the site by Belinda, working with the CSV Action Desk team in Plymouth. It has been added to the site on the behalf of Arthur Stevens, with his permission - he understands the terms and conditions attached.
The night of the big Blitz of Plymouth, we lived at Marldon (near Paington). There was a table up in the back bedroom - mother got all three of us (father was at a night shift at the gas works) under the table. I was in such a rush that I put my head and arms through the armhole of my Fair Isle pullover. I near strangled my self! I can see the darn thing now.
We could see the glow of Plymouth burning 35 miles away, because there was no other street lighting - everything was blackout.
There was one morning we boys went out to "have a look" - we went down to Compton (the next small village) because we heard bombs dropping there so we went looking to see what had happened. We found some shrapnel resting on the gutter of the Hole in the Wall building, a little tiny cottage at the start of Compton. Just resting on the guttering it was - it had just missed going through the window.
One day we went on a picnic to Dainton Tunel- as we were walking on the road one of the German planes came along shooting up the railway line, the Aunt we were with slung us all in a hedge - stinging nettles and all.
You couldn't buy new clothes, everything was all jumble sale. One day I went to school in a pair of purple-sided button boots. No body made any mention of it - because you were all in the same boat - hand-me-downs and jumble sale goods. The familly next door - there were four of them - and becasue of the the rationing - they had all their separate rations in separate little jam jars and fish paste jars, with labels on them, and if they ate it all - that was it! They didn't get anymore!
Father was a LDV nad - they had one 12 bore cartridge between the unit. The LDV later became the Home Guard.
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