大象传媒

This story was written by Vic Warren, and has been added to the site with his permission by Bruce Logan. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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Memories of WW2
During the 2nd WW I was a teenager living with my parents in the Aldershot area of north Hampshire.
I joined the ARP (Air Raid Precautions) at the outbreak of hostilities.
This was a National Organisation to assist the civil authorities in the event of bombing raids in the immediate area.
There was a Chief Warden in charge of a large area, assisted by Senior Wardens, who supervised local areas.
Then in each post there were several Wardens who were responsible to check that there were no lights showing in houses or anywhere else,
and then messengers who manned the 'phone and quite often carried messages from one post to another,
when, as frequently happened, the 'phone was out of order.
I was one of those messengers.
There was no uniform- the only thing supplied was a tin hat, and we used our own bicycles.
When the air raid siren sounded the alert.
we went immediately to our post and remained on duty until the All Clear was sounded.
Our area was not one of those hardest hit by bombs.
but we did have our share.
and the house of one of my best friends got a direct hit and he and all his family were killed.
The national signal for paratroops being dropped was the ringing of the church bells, but this only happened once during my time in the service and I remember that night very well.
Everyone in our air raid post was on high alert; we had heard stories about paratroops being dropped in disguise.
Our Senior Warden, Miss Dewey was a lady's companion and she was concerned about her charge.
who was an elderly lady called Mrs. Davies, and she asked one of the girl messengers if she would go and stay with Mrs. Davies.
I was to escort this girl (Jessie Sharpe) to the house.
Enemy aircraft were overhead and searchlights were probing the skies, everyone was looking out for paratroops- it was a most eerie feeling.
We eventually arrived at the house and hid our bikes behind the hedge.
The air raid shelter was built underground in the front lawn and was approached by steps leading down to it.
At the top of the steps we called Mrs. Davies by name and we heard muffled words from inside the shelter but no one came out.
We called again and a figure appeared at the door with balaclava helmet, hat, scarves, heavy coat and mittens.
We were both scared stiff and had the same thought -was this a dreaded paratrooper?
When we overcame our shock and established that it was Mrs. D, we explained our mission and Jessie joined her in the air raid shelter.
I left the house and returned to the ARP post without incident.
The All Clear was sounded in the early morning, so all's well that ends well.

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