My maiden name was Anne Belcher, daughter of Jim and Dora Belcher. Jim was in the "Buffs" and spent a good part of the war in Italy.
My earliest memory of the WW2 was when I was about 3 or 4 years old. My father was in the army and doing his training at the Ness in Shaldon, Devon. My mother and I were living in lodgings in Shaldon along with a couple of other army families. On one particular day we were on the beach alongside the river Teign. I was making sandcastles. We suddenly heard the sound of planes coming towards from across the water and when we looked up our mothers realised they were German and everyone took to their heels and ran for cover. The planes dived and machinegunned the beach. As far as I am aware no-one was hurt. The ground rose steeply behind Shaldon and the planes had to ascend quickly. They then turned round and returned to Teignmouth across the otherside and dropped bombs which devastated the town and docks. I can just remember running with my mother holding my hand and entreating me to drop the bucket I was holding as it was impeding my progress. I refused to as the bucket was not mine, just borrowed from a friend!
Another memory I have is in the fields above Shaldon where my mother along with others would follow along behind the tractors picking up potatoes. We children were barricaded round with sandbags to protect us from the wind while we played.
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