大象传媒

The dog and the gas mask
Jean Howe

In September 1939, my father was sent, with about 1 day's notice, to Cromer for security reasons. We had an awful holiday cottage by the railway - spiders as big as plates in the bath. I was 11 but there was no school so I took off all day down to the beach with my faithful dog and a few sandwiches, also my gas mask. However I was quite certain that in the event of a gas attack, I would put the mask on my dog, not myself. This would have been quite useless to both as he had a long nose, but this did not occur to me.
The other thing that strikes me is that I was gone all day but my mother never worried. I never put the dog on a lead and as far as I can remember he never went to the toilet. They were quite happy days but all too short. Three weeks later, Dad was sent to Cambridge.

Time in the NAAFI
Violet Palmer

I was in the NAAFI all the war years, at Salisbury Plain, Christchurch, Bovington, Zeals and Colenne. I met some nice young girls doing the same job as myself and also some very nice young soldiers and airmen. We had good dances and socials that were arranged for the camp. We were very lucky that we didn't get any bombs dropped at the places we were at. It's a long time ago.

The Wrath of God?
John Howe

I was a teenager during the war years, living at home with my parents in Cambridge. In 1939 I obtained a scholarship to the Perse School for Boys, a public school situated about 5 miles from where we lived. I cycled to school and back every day and one day in 1942, I was amazed to see one of my friends cycling back and shouting that the school was on fire. Such a dream does not happen to many schoolboys! Sure enough, a stick of incendiaries had landed along the roof of the main hall and there were flames leaping out of the top of the building. Firemen were directing their hoses at the blaze some 40 to 50 feet in the air. I always remember gazing up at the unbelievable scene, when an air raid warden rushed enthusiastically round the corner, clutching his stirrup pump and a bucket, as he had heard that there was a fire. I can always remember the crestfallen look on his face when he realised how inadequate his equipment was.

The euphoria I felt at the situation did not last long as the scene of water everywhere with books and burnt wood floating in it produced a feeling of sadness and waste. The only bright thing about was that we were billeted at a co-educational school whilst ours was being repaired, which was a further education in itself.

The school headmaster (who was nicknamed 'Gob'), was a strict disciplinarian and expected a very high standard of conduct from his boys. This was enforced by corporal punishment, if necessary, in the form of the cane which hung behind his study door. We were frightened by the thought of recieving three of the best. We all hated him and thought that the Almighty shared our sense of injustice at being caned. This was apparent to us because although very few bombs fell on Cambridge during the war, three that did fell very close to our headmaster. One fell on the house next door and blew his windows out, so he moved. The next fell in the same street, and finally, his school was burnt down by the incendiaries mentioned above. We were all convinced that it was the wrath of God warning him to mend his sadistic ways - but he never did!

Birmingham and Coventry in the Blitz
Dot Mitchell

During the war I was making aircraft parts; wings, gunturrets, at Fisher and Ludlow's factory in Birmingham. I also remember the night the Germans dropped a land mine which killed my friend's brother. Her father lost his one arm and they lost their home. The night they bombed Coventry we were in the shelters for 13 hours and my father and I were putting out incendiary bombs.

The Americans were stationed just outside in the countryside and one night they came in lorries and picked us up to take is to their camp. They laid on all entertainment and food etc. that we had not seen for some time (including nylons).

I often wish that I could forget some of these things, but at least people did help each other out, swopping food and clothes coupons etc.

Naafi Days
Lucy Miles

I was in Bournemouth when I was called up and joined the NAAFI, first with the Royal Fusiliers and then at Boscombe Barracks. From there I went to various NAAFI's at Bovington, Larkhill, Zeals, Blandford Camp and eventually, to West Moors Camp. The lads were always cheerful and looking on the bright side. The day peace was declared, everyone was so excited and there was laughing and dancing in the streets.

Royal Connections
Edna Tomes

I trained at Camberley to be a driving instructor at the same time as Princess Elizabeth did her training. One day her family, the King, Queen and sister, Princess Margaret came to visit and some photographs were taken of Princess Elizabeth changing a wheel on a lorry.

We all lined up opposite to cheer as the car arrived with her family. When they left we ran across to the path they would take so that we could cheer. It was certainly a day to remember.

Doing one's bit
C Chetwynd

I remember Coventry being bombed and a house being hit; it looked as if it had been sliced with a knife. I was living on a small holding and fire watching. My husband was in the Home Guard and also kept the buses on the road as he was a mechanic. I had to feed chickens, ducks, turkeys and ducks and it was difficult to get enough food for them. I also did child minding afterwards.

Fire Watching
Robert Brown

The Battle of Britain was in the main over and the night time blitz was underway. Every household was expected to field someone to serve in the emergency services ie. the ARP etc. My father was in poor health so I went as a runner for the local ARP. With me was my school mate, Ben. We had to go to the local school to be with the warden to take messages whereever needed. Most of the time it was quiet and when it was, Ben and I climbed up on the roof and sat in the belfry watching the flak (AA fire) over London. We never gave a thought to what might befall us if things went wrong. Needless to say, the warden was asleep in the bunk bed provided and the bell had been muffled. This was one of my early wartime memories.

Long Distance Romance
Les Mitchell

When the war began in 1939, I went to join up in the services. I got in the R.A.F. but was put on standby as my age put me into a reserved occupation. However, in a very short time, I was called, as I already had my service number. I soon did the foot slogging and rifle drill and was posted overseas to join S.E.A.C. under Earl Mountbatten. I was single and free and had left a widowed mother at home, so my mail was very restricted. My lucky day was when I was introduced to a pen friend, which soon brightened things up for me. Our pen friendship grew as time passed.
I was abroad for 4 years and when I got home my de-mob number had been gone by some 6 months. However, when pen friends met, we fell in love and I am happy to say have now been married 55 years.

A Norfolk Farmer
Ernie Perfitt

I was in Dad's Army during the war, being in a reserved occupation as a farmer of corn, beet and fruit. I had experience of Doodlebugs and V2's which created a lot of damage on the farm.

I met my future wife when she was a member of the W.A.A.F. Walking down the road in Norwich, I went past a photographer's and saw a picture of my girl-friend in her uniform. I asked him for the photo and after a while he gave it to me. The W.A.A.F. would not release her so I wrote a letter to my M.P. and said that I was a farmer and needed a wife on the farm. He wrote back and said 'There is nothing I can do, but there is something you can'.
I took my fate into my own hands and we had a baby daughter. We were together 60 years.

Great War Memory
Frances Townsend

I remember the day the first war started in 1914. I was five years old at the time. My parents were very concerned and I well remember my father signing to say he was prepared to join our army, but he was just fifty years old, so was never called up.

Mixed Memories
Rene Crane

I remember . . .
. . Working in the Land Army, caring for hens and chickens.
. . Having to go out along country lanes at 11 and 12 pm. to shut up the hens in double summer time.
. . Caring for the baby chicks in the incubators.
. . Dodging the shrapnel when out during an air raid.

Bull Story
Edna Shearing

I joined the Land Army when I was seventeen. My first job was to take a bull for a walk around a yard. The farmer showed me how to put the rod with attachment at the end, through the bull's nose ring. He was an adorable Angus bull. Suddenly, someone flicked a cigarette over the wall and it landed on the bull's nose. Off he shot and of course, I went with him. Suddenly I heard the farmer shout 'Stop, you silly b-----'. After about 10 minutes, we mamaged to stop.
I was never forgiven. He was due to meet his lady friend that afternoon (the bull, not the farmer!), but alas, it took 2 weeks before he was ready.

Francis Shutler

Mother had evacuees from Southampton, 2 little babies. Their mother visited now and again. I worked doing munitions in Southampton.

Wartime in Kingston
V Mitchell

I was just 15 years old when the war broke out, so I got a job on sewing machines, making officers' gun holsters. I also joined the Red Cross as a VAD nurse. I remember that we had to go to Kingston Barracks to treat the soldiers' feet. Those boots did a lot of damage to some feet. Also once a month we made up parcels for the prisoners of war. We were often called out after air raids to lend a hand in Kingston on Thames Victoria Hospital. We worked hard but we also played hard. I remember the dances at the Richmond Park camp, and we were priviledged to watch the soldiers on parade.

Southampton Blitz
Audry Thorne

My war memories are of being bombed out of my home at Southampton, losing most of the things I treasured at the age of 16 and spending the rest of the war in Fordingbridge where people made my family so welcome. I did voluntary work for the ARP and siren duty where I met my husband-to-be.

Defending the Beaches
Ivan Henson

On the outbreak of war in 1939, my then girl friend and I decided to get married and save the marriage allowance, which was then 7/- a week - (35p in present money). My wife did save too. I joined the army in February 1940 and served 6 years exactly, being demobbed in February 1946.

At first after training we stood by for reinforcements for France, but Dunkirk happened and we didn't go. We then did coastal defence - laying mines, placing barbed wire defences and being bombed every day by daylight raiders. On one occasion our bungalow was blown up and we were lucky to be behind the one wall left standing (that was at Frinton-on-Sea). Sometime later we were turned into a training unit. I went on courses to learn all about the 3 inch mortar and was made a Sergeant Instructor. I did this job for 3 1/2 years, training new recruits in classes of 25 to 30 every 6 weeks. I was in all sports and activities during this period, playing football for my company and also in the battalion side. I had several near misses with mortar bombs when clearing ranges after instruction.

We had a baby in 1943 but lost her just before I was demobbed. Petrol was 6p or 2 1/2p a gallon and was rationed as were most things. There was a black mark for most things. During the war I traveled through London during the blitz several times. The underground stations were packed with people sleeping on platforms, leaving just enough room to walk along the edge.

After the war, I resumed my job with Vauxhall Motors (whose factory at Luton made Churchill tanks during the war).

Evacuee's Story
Joyce Pignum

My mother sent me to queue up for our gas masks. I lived in London SW6. My sister and I were evacuated to Reading and Exeter. We didn't like it, so mother came and took us home. We spent two years in an air-raid shelter every night until a bomb hit our road and killed neighbours, so we made off to the country with mother, sister and brother. I was in Buckinghamshire at a place called Coleshill near Amersham.

When I was 15 years old, I went to work in a barrage balloon factory for the Air Force. Eventually, we went back to London SW6 where I went to work in a glass blowing factory. They made penicillin files (glass). I used to travel to laboratories all over London taking these files.

When I was 18 years old, I got married. My husband was 21 years old and was going to India. He had been on an LCT on D Day. We had a son and daughter and settled down making a home and struggling to give them a secure home. My dear husband did it his way and gave us a successful life.

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