Bombs and Blackout

I was working at the Supermarine factory in Woolston, Southampton, making parts for the Spitfires, when a daylight raid was in progress. We had only just returned to work after our lunch break when the sirens sounded and at the same time the bombs began to drop. It was a mad rush to get to the shelters, 1) you turned left and ran along the road and under a arch to shelters which were on the other side of a railway line, some people were killed here. 2) you crossed the road to an underground shelter, which had the paint shop above it. All we could hear in the underground shelter was the bombs raining down and the paint shop took a direct hit. Eventually the fire brigade men came and rescued us slinging us over their shoulders and carrying to safety, no one was hurt. Several workmates decided we needed a drink so off we went to the local pub. We had only just arrived when my Father came along with tears streaming down his face, he had been told we had all been killed. My Father was a shipwright at Thornycrofts which was also in Woolston, not far from Supermarine.

As I was now out of work, the factory relocated outside of Southampton, I decided to join the Civil Defence Ambulance service. (I don't know whether to laugh or be ashamed of this incident.) At this time we weren't getting daylight raids, I was sent to Portsmouth to collect a serviceman in a hospital there and take him to The General Hospital in Southampton, I could not find the hospital (road signs had been removed) and nobody I asked would give me directions and so I returned to base and we heard no more about that job, as far as I know the poor man could still be in Portsmouth hospital.

Another incident, when the sirens sounded each driver was sent to an ARP post to work from there, once the all clear was given we returned to our base, this night it was dense fog and you couldn't see a thing, I was just crawling along until I crashed into something, I braked and got out to find myself about 6 feet from somebody's front window, I'd driven through their front garden fence, I guessed the owners were in the shelter, so I went back to base and reported it, but nobody ever complained.

Another time they asked for 20 off-duty drivers to collect some Ford V8's from Southampton Docks and take them to London to be converted into ambulances, it didn't help that they were all left hand drive. One driver said she knew the way and would lead the convoy. We set off from Southampton at 7 a.m. and finally arrived in London between 5 and 6 p.m. On the was several sirens sounded and we were told to get out of the cars and find somewhere safe to wait till the all clear, it was very frightening waiting in ditches away from the cars. We had planned to be in London by midday and go to an afternoon show at the theatre but we never made that as the person leading us got us lost several times, we returned home by train and finally reached Southampton by 11 p.m.

One night I was sent to the morgue on stand-by, the all clear had sounded so I could return to base, my route took me over the original Northam Bridge, and suddenly all I could hear was bombs going off behind me. That was very scary as I didn't fancy going for a late night swim.

During the bombing my Father and my Aunts and lots more older people used to go to the Burseldon area, which was more rural in those days, they would each rent a room to get a decent nights sleep and return the next day for work.

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