大象传媒

What made Britain great were the ten million senior citizens who went through the War for a better Britain. They were brought up on basic values. Each had the Dunkirk spirit when we stood alone with national pride and little else.

In the winter 1940 the senior citizens of today had to sleep in Anderson shelters in their gardens. Condensation would drip on their bedding and it soon went mouldy. Many of them gave up sleeping in the Anderson shelters and instead took shelter in their cellars if they had one or simply went to bed in their homes.

The drone of enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft fire was deafening. You could hear the bombs coming nearer and nearer and then you were covered in the choking dust of a near miss. On one occasion an Air Raid Warden indicated that there was a delayed bomb in our road. It went off before the Bomb Disposal Unit could deal with it.

The Bomb Disposal teams were very brave men who put their lives on the line for this country. After the War, they were never given any honours but have consistently been dealing with bombs frm the Second World War.

After a poor nights sleep you were still expected to get to work or school on time. At schol you only spoke when the teacher asked you a question. During the Blitz on London you were lucky if you got a week of schooling. One of my class had T.B. and could cough up blood. He use to give a demonstration.

You started work at the age of 14 in manufacturing industry, after an inadequate education. You carried on working when the Air Raid sounded and only took cover when the klaxon sounded. If you were any good at your assigned task that was where you stayed until the end of the War. You could appeal but that did not get you anywhere.

There was no help for single parent families a mother had to go out to work as there was no alternative. It was very much a "make do and mend society", where you wore your clothes until they were thread bare. If you worked in manufacturing you had coupons given to you for overalls.

At eighteen years old you did your National Service for two years or became a Bevan Boy and went into coal mining. While doing your National Service you could be sent to any part of the world. These eighteen year olds were replacing the War time veterans who were being demobilised. This country was very generous, it gave them a demob suit. If they had been prisoners of the Japanese they were considered not fit enough for the reserves. This country like its veterans got nothing out of the War and gave more countries independence than any other in history.

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