91热爆

Name: R W Hall
Location: Worcestershire
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A Young Lad at War

It was on a Sunday morning,
In 1939,
September the third to be precise
And the weather was set fine.

I ran home from my Sunday school,
Along Chapel Street, like mad
And darted into our living room
Where stood my Mum and Dad.

My father had the wireless on,
And we were all prepared
To hear from Mr Chamberlain
That war had been declared.

The great man spoke those fateful words,
His sadness very plain.
My father wiped a tear and said,
鈥淪o here we go again.鈥�

It must have been so cruel to him,
Who twenty years before
Had lost so many comrades
In that terrible world war.

But I was only thirteen then,
Full of the joys of life.
What could I do to play my part
Of this impending strife?

So now I write my chronicle
Of things which happened then.
The memories which come flooding back
Are fuel to my pen.

Two days before, our village had
Received coach loads of brummies.
Evacuees from Birmingham
And all without their mummies.

We eyed them all suspiciously,
They all had puggled faces.
They brought so little with them
In old and tatty cases.

But soon they were all sorted
And to new homes repaired.
I don鈥檛 know what they thought of us,
To us they all looked scared.

They took some time to understand
Our quaint old country ways.
That apples really grew on trees
And hens the eggs did lay.

And so these strangers settled in
Our village and its ways.
We welcomed them into our gangs
And wished them happy days.

And so the war had started
And we had to change out habits.
鈥淕row more food.鈥� The poster said
So we started keeping rabbits!

I scrounged some wood and bits of wire
To make myself a hutch.
One of our gang had a Belgian Hare
And I had got a Dutch.

Between us we had five or six
With various bucks and does
And rabbits being what they are
Our hopes of profit rose!

But oh! Alas and lackerday
Those bunnies looked so sweet.
We couldn鈥檛 do what we had planned,
To turn them into meat.

And so our business venture.
It never quite took off.
I kept one rabbit as a pet
And named him Molotov.

The blackout caused a lot of fuss,
There were no lights about.
But if the merest flicker showed
We were told to 鈥減ut it out!鈥�

We country children were quite used
To walking in the dark,
It gave us cover when we indulged
In some nefarious lark.

But in what鈥檚 called the phoney war
And nothing much occurred.
An occasional plane flew overhead,
And we the siren heard.

We lads then had a bright idea,
A shelter we would build,
Where we could go and be quite safe
So we would not be killed.

We dug a hole six feet by six,
We made it five feet deep.
We thought that it was big enough
To let four of us sleep.

But when it rained we quickly found
Our bomb deflecting roof
Was very inefficient,
It wasn鈥檛 waterproof!

The hole we鈥檇 dug down in the clay
Became a trifle boggy.
And all the things we鈥檇 taken in
Came out all wet and soggy.

Then Dunkirk came and we all felt
A strong invasion threat.
And so we country bumpkins
Planned how this should be met.

The 91热爆 Guard was not yet mustered,
T鈥檞as the L.D.V. at first.
So we lads planned what we should do
If Hitler did his worst.

My father kept a cycle shop
And among the things he sold
Was calcium carbide granules,
Now worth their weight in gold.

When water was applied to them
Acetylene gas would form.
And this was used in cycle lamps
Before batteries were the norm.

With water bottles were half-filled.
The carbide was inserted.
With bottle tops then screwed down tight
To bombs they were converted.

Our secret weapon was now set
To save us from invasion,
But my Dad stopped us making them
By a bit of firm persuasion.

What else was left for us to do
To help us win the war?
All our schemes had failed, I know,
We wanted to do more.

So at weekends and holidays
We worked upon the land.
My uncles were market gardeners
So we gave them a hand.

鈥淩aise more food for England!鈥�
The government would say,
So we went to work with vigour
At sixpence an hour for pay.

Sprout, beans, peas and fruit we picked,
Dug potatoes by the ton.
It was not so good in winter
But in summer it was fun.

The war went on inexorably,
It wasn鈥檛 going well.
But rural life was not too bad,
In the cities it was hell.

And we were growing older,
That anyone could see.
I was keen to join the R.A.F.
So I joined the A.T.C.

Life was much more serious then,
My enlistment then came through.
With pride I wore my uniform,
All smart in Airforce blue.

And so my childhood ended
And the war had just been won.
When I look back upon my life
I鈥檇 had a lot of fun!

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