We weren't told...

I remember putting on a gas mask for the first time:

We were taken out on parade and we had to have our gas masks ready and also our gas capes. We hadn’t been told anything about ‘antidim’. Apparently, to keep your gas masks lenses clear there was a little jar in the case of a substance called ‘antidim’. You simply put a bit of your finger and rubbed it round the glass and you didn’t get the condensation you see when you put them on. Of course we hadn’t been told about this substance, so when we put our gas masks on we couldn’t see a thing! We learned quickly to do it after that.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the BBC Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Herbert Lewis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Herbert's stories:

• A long sort of sock
• ”All genuine tickets please”
• All sorts
• I had to sit on the front of the tank
• ’Kitted out for civilian life’
• Shropshire during the war
• My only night in a shelter
• Riding a horse up the steps
• It seemed a bit of a silly thing to have to do
• The first of the V1’s
• There was always plenty of cheese

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