大象传媒

Born in 1938, I became aware of the war by the loud bangs, siren noises and frequent nightime dashes to the airaid shelter. The time came when I began to attend the infants' school equipped with 'Mickey Mouse' gas mask in its cardboard box. Arriving at school, I would hang my coat and cap on the hook with the picture of an umbrella on it and settle down to working in the classroom. This activity was often interrupted by the wail of the siren and a dash for the shelters across the yard from the school building.
Apart from the usual lessons there were other memorable experiences unique to wartime. The collection of salvage was one. Salvage in this case meant waste paper and cardboard of all kinds and we were encouraged to forage at home and knock on neighbours' doors to maximise the harvest. We had to take our bundles to school which was the collection point and our efforts were encouraged by a crafty incentive scheme. The amount collected by each of us was weighed and recorded and as your cumulative weight increased you progressed in rank. The first salvage collected earned you the rank of 'Private' and then progression through the ranks to the extremely rare award of 'Field Martial' status. Achievement was marked by the issue of round cardboard badges which were of different colours and having the rank printed on them. Children of shopkeepers always seemed to get the highest ranks as they had access to lots of wrapping paper and cartons. They now call it re-cycling but to me it will always be 'salvage'.

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