大象传媒

I was 6 years old when the war started and 11 by the time it finished, so you could say that most of my formative years were spent during wartime. I had two brothers and an older sister so we all went through this period together. It didn't mean much to us boys at first, we being too young to understand what was happening, but in 1940 we were evacuated to Leicester to remove us from the likely bombers' route to London. This entailed a long train journey and a bus trip to a school where we "slept" on desks for the night, had 2 "Rich Tea" biscuits and a cup of tea for breakfast before being taken to our temporary homes.

My sister and her friend and my brother Edward were all allocated to a large house at 140 Westcotes Drive but for some reason, my brother Leonard was allocated to go to another house. Fortunately, the lady of the first house, Mrs Newton, took pity on him and allowed him to stay with the family.

We only spent about three months before the bombing rains intensified around the Midlands area, and our parents decided to come and collect us because they were so worried about our welfare. This entatiled a long journey by road in a borrowed car after our favourite lunch of jam sponge pudding. Unfortunately, most of this came up again during the trip home, as we were all car-sick.

My earliest memories of war-time Britain were, gas masks to be carried at all times, an air raid shelter built in the back yard, half buried in the ground, blackout curtains on all the windows, food rationing, which meant we sometimes went hungry, air-raid sirens at night, and trips down to the shelter with candlelight, and tea from a flask with a biscuit. These raids allowed us to be late for school which, itself, was often interrupted by air-raids and we would retire to the shelters which was great fun for young kids. Sometimes, in the winter, the schools themselves would close if there was no fuel for heating and we never minded that. Our favourite hobbies during this time were drawing (always aerial "dog-fights") and making models of aircraft from balsa wood and scrap. Our skills in aircraft recognition were second to none. I recall, on one occasion, we started to make a "Handley Page Hamden" from a piece of 4 x 2 pine-wood but got fed up with it and used it for a cricket bat instead.

As the war progressed, we became a little more "blase" about air-raids and would watch the V1 "Doodlebugs" fly past the house, keeping our fingers crossed that they would keep going and we rarely visited the shelter unless there was a "Crash warning" meaning imminent danger. We took to visiting local war defences such as the barrage balloon situated 100 yards away. If the air raid siren sounded, we would race round there to watch it go up. Also, not far away, was a "Bofors" anti-aircraft gun where the soldiers manning it would sometimes let us work the direction finding gear. Troops on route marches would often pass by, as well as the occasional tank or bren-gun carrier. For young kids, it was all a great adventure.

Martlesham fighter base was not far away and we would skate (on old metal skates, tied to our feet with bits of string) 3 miles along the main road to watch the Spitfires and Hurricanes taking off and landing. Towards the end of the war, we were becoming more adventurous and capable of more interesting excursions.

In one case, we cycled 14 miles to a USAF aircraft dump and clambered all over wrecked "Flying Fortresses" to obtain Perspex which we then made into jewellery such as rings, bracelets and pendants. The trip home was very difficult for 3 little boys, especially me being the youngest, riding my mother's bike on which I couldn't reach the seat.

On another occasion, we got into the back of Martlesham airport and dragged out a "spare fuel tank" which we intended to turn into a boat for some fun on the local pond. We slung this on ropes between 2 bikes and walked it home 3 miles along a main road frequented by lots of military traffic and we were never stopped and questioned! After cutting a hole in it with our dad's hacksaw, and realising there was a couple of gallons of fuel still in it, we weren't sure quite how to proceed, but dad put a stop to any more efforts in that direction! At the end of the war we were as excited as everyone else and joined in the local street parties with our usual exuberance.

Looking back, it was a strange time for children growing up but we didn't realise that or know anything different, and we took it all in our stride. It must have been a terribly worrying time for our parents though!

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