Some Brief Recollections of My Life at the Onset of World War Two: by Eric Castle.

From the onset of the Second World War I lived in Dover. At that time I was 26 years of age and I worked on the building of old park barracks. Movement at first was not affected in any way. Standards of living fell only slightly, some items of foodstuffs gradually diminished in quantity.

There was little time for recreation or hobbies as soon after the start of the war, we were all encouraged to work longer and also to ‘dig for victory’, this meant acquiring an allotment to dig and sew vegetables to help feed ourselves, which saved food being imported and relieved ships to bring arms from other countries.

I saw the first shell which fell on Dover, at first it was one of disbelief and it was some 24 hours before it was officially confirmed, and then foreboding of what horrors might be our lot.

Yes I did see all of the following;

Evacuation;
I saw lots of children saying goodbye to their parents and going off by train (steam) to Wales, it was a heartbreaking sight, but most of the children seemed to enjoy it as though they were going on a day trip to the seaside.

Dunkirk evacuation;
I was still at home during the evacuation of Dunkirk, but I remember all the ships coming into the harbour, big ships and small, river craft, and in fact almost anything that would float, and in the streets and on the stations, soldiers and sailors everywhere.

Battle of Britain;
The most I remember about the battle of Britain was the amount of vapour trails, reaching right across the sky and almost blotting out the sun as they gradually dispersed. On one occasion I was sheltering in the engine room of the old Guilford colliery, during a raid, when I noticed a plane, miles high spiralling downwards, after what seemed an age I recognized it as a spitfire, our foremost make of fighter plane, as it came closer it looked as though it was coming straight for me, but it crashed with a deafening thud on the edge of a small coppice just across the road about 15 yards away. I could not approach the area, the plane had completely buried itself but live ammunition was banging all over the place, so I got away as quickly as I could.

Soon after the above incident I joined the navy and my memories of Dover after 1940 are very negligible and are mostly of receiving mail from home, relating various family members experiences, shelters, blackouts, shelling warnings, shortages, but above all a stubborn resistance not to give in and a friendliness amongst Dover people, not seen before or since…….

Eric Cecil George Castle. (1913 — 1979).

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