大象传媒

1941 to 1944 鈥� General
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a) Great importance was attached by Troy Town Elementary School I was attending (see paragraph 9 re. schools) to children taking their gas masks with them. One master (who my mother didn鈥檛 like because she said he was a scare-monger) would lecture us saying 鈥渄o you know what would happen to all you boys who haven鈥檛 brought their Respirators with them today (he liked to call 鈥済as masks鈥� by the name 鈥淩espirators鈥�) and there was a Gas attack?鈥� 鈥測ou would curl up in the corner of the classroom and die鈥�.
He announced one day that any boy who had forgotten his Respirator would be caned (presumably his own rule). Then one day I forgot mine and when he asked me why I hadn鈥檛 got it, I said that I left in a hurry that morning and couldn鈥檛 find it. He said that he didn鈥檛 believe me and wanted a note from my Mother confirming that I had not forgotten it. My mother wrote that she couldn鈥檛 find it for me that particular morning and added a cheeky footnote :-
鈥淎nd in any case Mr 鈥︹�︹��. We can only die once!!鈥�
She put the note in a sealed envelope, so I didn鈥檛 know about the cheeky postscript until she told me later on.

b) At some time (during 1941 I believe) the solders dug a series of trenches in the playing fields nearby and installed an Anti-tank gun without its breech mechanism. There were a number of large heavy concrete cones (tank traps) which could be rolled out into the main road in the event of an Invasion by land. The gun would then have been set up for working, complete with breech mechanism and would then fire at German Tanks and Armoured Vehicles blocked by the concrete cones. The trenches proved to be a great area for us kids to play in 鈥� unofficially of course.

c) There was a bully boy (a coward) living in the area who would only pick on boys like me. I was just a 4 stone weakling. One afternoon on my way home, he confronted me, asking if I was the brother of a certain person he didn鈥檛 like. I said that I wasn鈥檛. Then he asked me if I knew him, which as I did, I replied 鈥測es鈥�. With that he said that he had something he wanted me to give to him. Then he socked me so hard in the face, I saw a flash (stars). I felt so utterly miserable and demoralised and in a peculiar way, embarrassed, that I couldn鈥檛 tell them at home the truth about what had happened. I knew I had a badly bruised face so I told my Mother that I had fallen up Bingley Road steps on my way home. Had she really know the truth, I think that she or my Father would have taken me down to school to show the headmaster, asking for the bully boy to be caned, or they would have taken me to the Police Station to show them. A completely unprovoked attack on a sickly boy like I was. They would also ask for an assurance that the bully would not threaten me afterwards.

d) One of the treats we DID have during the quieter period of war, when my Father was on night shift was to visit the local Zoo.
i) There were two elephants tethered inside the elephant house and the public could walk through at the front to see them. It was common practice, but completely unofficial, for visitors to feed them tasty morsels. The elephants would take them by their trunk from your hand and put them into their mouth. I pestered my Mother for something and she gave in and handed me a sandwich from our picnic box. One of the elephants took this from me and placed it in its mouth. All of a sudden it let out an almighty trumpeting sound and started fidgeting on its feet. It frightened us all out of the elephant house. Then my mother remembered that she had put some mustard in it, which obviously the elephant did not appreciate!!

ii) It was also during another visit to the Zoo. I was looking with others at a caged compound containing lots of tiny monkey-type creatures. There was a safety barrier around the compound warning that these animals were dangerous and that visitors must keep outside the barriers. They looked so timid and harmless. Out of devilment I got under the safety barrier and all these creatures flew at me spitting and putting their clawed arms through the bars. My Mother screamed and pulled me back out. She thought that I had accidentally slipped and came up on the wrong side. I never enlightened her with the truth!!

e) There were a lot of luxury shortages during the war eg. Fruit & Nut at Christmas time and toys and sweets for us kids. Probably, the lack of sweets was a blessing in disguise as it must have spared lots of us from serious tooth decay.
f) During the quieter period of the War, people in my neighbourhood did not sleep regularly in their Air Raid Shelters unless there were any threats of an Air Raid. So my brother Peter and I would sleep on a mattress on the floor in the dining room. Ron and Stan and sometimes one of two of there friends would play darts, aiming at a board above our heads. Peter and I would be on edge in case a dart hit the wire on the board and come down on us. But fortunately they never fell our way. (I can鈥檛 remember where the others might be sleeping, maybe on armchairs).

7. The Doodlebugs and the V2 Rockets 鈥� June 1944 to 1945
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a) Exactly one week after D-Day landings (June 1944) the doodlebugs started coming over. The first night we didn鈥檛 know what they were. They were coming over one after the other. All we could see were flames coming out of their tails (this of course was in the blackout) We were thinking that they were German Aircraft being shot down. We quickly realised however that something wasn鈥檛 right on account of the large explosions which followed.
b) My Mother and Father were due to take me to see a specialist at St. Mary鈥檚 Hospital in London the next day. The Air Raid siren sounded on the way to the Railway Station and my Father had to persuade my highly nervous Mother to keep our appointment. We sat in St. Mary鈥檚 Hospital and all day we kept experiencing these very heavy explosions and deep thuds. Nobody knew what they were. Then coming back in the train that afternoon we learned that they were flying bombs, i.e. Hitler鈥檚 V1 Weapons.
They quickly took on the name 鈥淒oodlebugs鈥�. We saw plenty of those where I lived, for a long time in 1944.
c) One afternoon when my Mother and I were at home (Bonzo, also of course) we heard a 鈥淒oodlebug鈥� approaching (they sounded just like a motorbike in the sky). We looked at each other and held our breath as it seemed to be heading straight for us. It stopped and we waited for the big bang. It exploded over the other side of the River Medway I believe at nearby Frindsbury, doing its usual damage. Whether anyone was killed or injured with this, I don鈥檛 know.
d) The doodlebugs (V1) were replaced by Hitler鈥檚 V2 rockets which you couldn鈥檛 see 鈥� just a loud bang and thud and that was it. My father however, on his way to work early one crystal clear morning, saw the vapour trail of one from over the horizon in the area of Belgium, heading towards London.
e) It doesn鈥檛 seem to be recorded but mysteriously I think it was as late as February 1945, after everything had been quiet for a number of weeks, a solitary doodlebug came over in the dark one evening. My Brother Ron looked up and remarked 鈥淐o-oh, I thought that we had seen the last of those鈥� 鈥� and indeed it was the very last.

8. VE DAY
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a) With Allied Troops making bloody advances into occupied Europe, all was quiet at home since Winter 1944/45 and on 8 May 1945 came VE Day marking the end of World War Two in Europe. Everyone whooped with joy and there were Street Celebrations everywhere.
b) After things had settled down, the Government sold off the Anderson Air Raid Shelters to anyone who had one and wanted to keep it. My Father bought ours (10s 6d, I believe) and like many other people, put it on the surface and modified it for use as a garden shed.
c) I as with others was still aware that there were things to be settled in the Far East but for now I was grateful that we had no further threats of Air Raids and Bombs.

9. Schooling during the War and Afterwards
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a) (i) As stated in paragraph 2 above, there was complete closure for a while
(ii) Around 1941 I attended the local Troy Town Elementary School for 1 陆 hours per day only
(iii) Around January 1944 I attended full time schooling in the Elementary School
(iv) I obtained a scholarship and went full time in Rochester Technical School Sept 1944 to August 1947
(v) During all my schooling time and beyond, I suffered many devastating Asthma Attacks losing a lot of school time.
(vi) In spite of my setbacks I managed to pass the Chatham Dockyard Written Examination for a Trade Apprenticeship. It was touch and go whether I would be accepted, as the Royal Navy Surgeon Commander (we all had to see him even though we were civilians) didn鈥檛 like the look of me medically at all. However I went on probation terms like the rest of the boys serving as Engineering apprenticeship in the Dockyard itself and the Armament Depot therein. I was there just a week when I had an attack of Asthma. I could have been discharged but the Dockyard Authorities were sympathetic and I managed to complete my apprenticeship during which period I had many more attacks. God was good to me allowing me this chance.
(vii) I was never really good at Sports due to my Asthma but would get great pleasure going to the cinema in Rochester or Chatham to see such stars as Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Cary Grant, Basil Rathbone and others.

10. National Service and Later, 1952 to present times
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a) My national Service period was quickly and severely cut short by my medical condition. I served within the REME from 16 October 1952 to 2nd January 1953 at Blandford Camp, Dorset. The Royal Navy or the RAF didn鈥檛鈥� want me for National Service because of my medical background. So I settled back working in the Armament Depot at Chatham, but wanted to move on within the same firm 鈥渢he admiralty鈥� now known as part of the MOD, to Bath in 1954, I became a Draughtsman and was promoted in good time eventually to HPTO (Higher Professional Technology Officer)
b) It was in Bath in 1956 that I met my future wife Mary, a student teacher from Pembrokeshire, who says she knew nothing about the war that I had experienced. Her Mother had a market garden and was allocated with several German POWs to work the land. That was the nearest Mary came to knowing about the war. We married on 14th August 1957 and have been happily married ever since. We still live in Bath in Happy Retirement.
c) During my retirement I appeared in several background parts on TV, some of them Walk-on parts on programmes such as 大象传媒 Casualty as a Tramp; also in Teachers, Persuasion and Berkeley Square. I met and had a good chat with Norman Wisdom on one of the Casualty episodes. He is a lovely pleasant man who took a liking to me dressed as a Tramp.
d) I have been unable to take on any more TV work since I had a stroke followed by Epilepsy four years ago. I was without my Drivers licence for a year, but happily I now have it back.
e) I have never attended Church regularly but have always prayed a lot as I still do. I firmly believe in the power of prayer and pray quietly. I feel uncomfortable if I neglect them at any time. I woe all that I have to the grace of the Lord God.

The End.

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