大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Edward Fawcett for Three Counties Action on behalf of Michael Minter Taylor and has been added to the site with his permission.The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.Born in 1938, I grew up in SE London where the family experienced the war as an everyday occurence,with an anti-aircraft battery at the bottom of the garden, which would attempt to shoot down enemy aircraft.My father, who was working in London organising Merchant Navy convoys, realised that it was time for my mother and I to leave and seek refuge in Wales where we had family.Everything was arranged that we should travel to Cardiff where we would be staying with one of my father's relatives, his wife and two chidren.The first stage of our journey was by Southern Railway electric train to Charing Cross;so far so good. Then outside the station waiting for a taxi to take us to Paddington,the siren went off and people got very edgy.I remember my father who was seeing us off got very cross when two people refused to share a taxi.Anyway we got to Paddington where we found that our train was being routed via Bath, presumably something wrong on the line. It seemed to be a very long journey and the Severn Tunnel sticks out in my memory.As we went very slowly through the darkness I must have shown fear because some kind person kept lighting matches which had a negative effect in some respect because in recesses in the the tunnel were sentries, so as we went along,with these matches being lit every now and then,I would see faces peering into the carriages. Nevertheless we got to our destination and my first recollection of Cardiff was getting on a double decker bus and smelling damp leather.This was from the bus seats of course;in London,buses had upholstered seats; funny the things that one remembers.The stay in Cardiff was completely different to everything I had known in London. For a start there was no firing of guns, no air-raid sirens and a different way of life.The reason for this was that the American armed forces had arrived and it was a common sight to see "DUCKS" (DUKW's-amphibious lorries) passing along Cowbridge Rd enroute to a camp where I later understood they would be involved in the coming invasion.While I was down in Cardiff I saw the sea for the first time when we visited Barry and there in the bay were cargo ships as far as the eye could see.Our stay in Cardiff came to an end when we thought things were going to be quieter in London because the air raids seemed to have stopped.However, a relation who was in the RAF said there was worse to come and we should stay put.We ignored him, came home to the V1 menace.How did we cope with this? my mother invented a plan of campaign.If I heard one, I shouted to my mother.If the engine stopped immediate instructions were to dive into the Morrison shelter in the dining room.It became a way of life.

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