91Èȱ¬

The author of this story has understood the rules and regulations of this site and has agreed that this story can be entered on the 91Èȱ¬â€™s People’s War website.

The war began at 11.0am on Sunday, 3 September 1939. I was 12 years old at the time. During the early days of September we were very nervous of what would happen to us, considering what was happening in Europe. My father had already been recalled to the Navy and I did not see him for three years, as he was serving on Atlantic convoy duties, bringing food as well as arms from Canada and USA.

Nothing much happened until the summer of 1940 when Germany commenced their bombing campaign on towns and cities in the British Isles, which was the forerunner of the now famous Battle of Britain. Us boys would watch our planes fighting in the skies, if we could dodge not taking shelter in our Anderson shelters, much to the chagrin of our mothers. These shelters were supplied by the government and were made from corrugated iron and placed in the gardens. Whether the shelters would protect us from enemy action, we never had the experience to find out, but we had faith in them.

During the air battles we used to watch our planes pursuing the enemy. Sometimes we could see the pilots of damaged planes parachuting to earth. If they were German airmen, army personnel or the police soon captured them. After enemy planes had flown back to their bases, my friend Roy Yates and myself would scour the local roads, searching for pieces of shrapnel or machine gun bullet cases. These were souvenirs, which were much sought after and would be exchanged between our school friends.

Some time after the Battle of Britain was over, the German air force launched nighttime raids on Britain, culminating in the Blitz on London. This went on for a long time with much damage and casualties. We spent many nights in our shelter, but as I had to go to work, I took my chances by sleeping indoors in my bed. I was 14—16 years old by this time and life had to go on.

During my 14-16 years I worked in a factory producing temperature gauges for ships and aircraft. Attached to the factory was a 91Èȱ¬ Guard detachment made up of men who were too old for the regular army. In between working I used to take messages to the 91Èȱ¬ Guard posts, during daytime only. We had to work 44 hours a week, Monday to Friday and half day on Saturdays. Saturday afternoons I used to fire-watch on the factory roof for three shillings and six pence, 17½ pence in today’s money, for four hours.

As a consequence of the night-time bombing raids, my mother and sister were evacuated, along with thousands of others, to a place of safety. So there I was, all on my own, and I soon learned to be self-reliant. At night my friend Roy Yates and I used to fire-watch at our local Co-operative Society, so that the men employees could be at home with their families, of course this was an additional source of income for us. As many families were evacuated, food supplies were still being delivered to the store and built up to such an extent, Roy Yates and myself were given permission to take what we wanted, free of charge. It was a good time for us, bearing in mind that lots of commodities were rationed. One night, when I was not on the Co-op roof, we received 3,000 incendiary bombs (fire bombs) on our area, three on my house. They crashed through the roof and set fire to my sister’s bedroom. There was no time to call the auxiliary fire service, so I set to, to extinguish the flames. This took some time but I managed it and so prevented me becoming homeless.

Around about this time, 1943-44, Germany began to fire flying bombs on London. They were unmanned planes loaded with explosives. We called them ‘Doodle-bugs’. As the air-raid warning had sounded when I was on fore-watching duty at the factory, a doodle-bug came down on the laboratory at the Merton Board Mills paper factory and blew it to pieces, killing a school chum of ours. A very sad occasion.

The doodle-bugs were still being fired at us up until late 1944, but with the advancing allied troops in Europe, the launch sites were over-run and so that sector of Germany’s war effort ceased. Soon after came the final attempt to make Britain surrender, which was the advent of the V2 rocket. They rained down on London and brought fear, which, if they had carried on much longer, the outcome of the war may have been very different.

In January 1945 I volunteered for the Royal Navy and just as my training was completed, the war in Europe came to an end. I was then drafted to a ship in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Whilst on passage to Ceylon, the war in the Far East ended with the surrender of Japan, for which we were truly grateful, as we would not have to participate in any future naval action. Eventually I was returned to Britain and so ended five eventful years.

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