Memories of WWII

My war began in 1938 when I had to register for National service we have to go back a few years to understand this; at the end of the first WW Germany and Austria were defeated by Britain and France, and also towards the end by America-1918.
However by 1936 it seemed as another war was inevitable. In 1938 young people from the age of 17½ years were required to register for national service and thus I was sitting on a bench in our town hall waiting for my turn to register. I lived in London then and I was still in school. In September 1938 I went to college in London and on my first day there had to be fitted for a gas mask in case of war. Everyone in the country had to have one and when the war finally started it was compulsory to carry it with you. The mask was made of rubber with straps over the head to keep it on. It was difficult to wear at first because it made you feel as though you couldn’t breathe, but if you breathed deeply and slowly it wasn’t too bad to wear. The mask was carried in a cardboard box with string to hold it around the neck. Luckily we never had to use one as gas was not used in the 2ndWW, as the gas Germany used against Britain all eventually went back to them due to prevailing winds.
When Germany was given an ultimatum too get out of Poland by Britain and France I remember hearing on the radio the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, saying ‘that no assurance had been given by Germany and that therefore we were at war.’
I also remember seeing a newsreel showing Hitler driving through Paris, the French capital. It was terrible humiliation for the French who then stopped fighting. Our British army in France had to retreat and finally came to the beaches of Dunkirk. The troops suffered terribly as they waited for ships to take them back to Britain. They had little food or water and were constantly machine gunned by the German air force. The British army sent out ships to rescue them and anyone who owned a small boat was asked to go over to France to help. It was a miracle that so many men were rescued. Over ¾ of a million. This was photographed on newsreels. When the troops arrived home they were put on trains and sent to different camps. I happened to be on a railway station platform at a time when one of these trains came through and the men could barely smile and looked grey with fatigue. By this time we had another P.M.-Winston Churchill. He made wonderful speeches and made the country realize that we were now alone and really had to fight for our country.
In September 1940 onwards when London was bombed night and day and also other cities was called the ‘Blitz’, from a German word meaning lightning or fast. To signal the nearness of an attack a siren would go off which made a loud wailing noise also all over cities. Where I was living naval guns had been put out on a common near us; these were 16inch guns (40mm-and also search lights), which means that the shell fired had a diameter of 16 inches. The sound they made was very loud and there was very little sleep for anyone, followed by an 8 hour day of lectures. In London the worst hit part was the East End where the docks and Woolwich arsenal were. The fires that the raids started were terrific and the fire brigade did a wonderful job. I remember seeing a nearby paint factory hit, the flames could be seen 10 or more miles away.
At the beginning of the war we were issued with identity cards and ration books. Food was rationed and there was very little variety. A weekly ration per person was 50g butter, 35 margarine and about the same of sugar and tea. Meat was also rationed and was about enough for 1 meal a week. A lot of other food was on a points system so you couldn’t buy everything you wanted and many foods became very scarce. You always carried a paper bag around in case you saw something you wanted. There was a monthly ration of sweets for children but none for adults. Only absolutely essential foods were imported.
I left college in 1941 and was in a reserved occupation. Some jobs were important for the country in Britain and although I volunteered for the forces I had to stay where I was. I was then working Gravesend in Kent. It is a town on the river Thames. One of the jobs everyone up to the age of 60 had to do was fire watching. You fire watched at night in your street and at your place of work or a public place. This meant that if a fire bomb dropped you had to try to put the fire out. I was the youngest member left in my street so I was put onto working the stirrup pump which was a way of pumping water from a large container on to the fire. My other fire watching place was at school next to Gravesend aerodrome which was often a target for bombers. We dreaded moon lit nights as the moon shining on the waters of the Thames was like a finger pointing the way up to London. Opposite Gravesend was a dockland town called Tilbury. Gravesend also had docks so both these towns were targets.
I had a very scary incident happen to me while I was in Gravesend. One summer morning before going to work I had strolled down the garden to get some fresh air. We had had a bad raid the night before and there had been a lot of bombs dropped. The house next door to where I was living was occupied by an elderly lady who had a beautiful garden. There was only a small fence between the two gardens and I could see that she was digging. Then I did a double take. There was a bomb slicking out of the ground that hadn’t gone off and she was trying to dig it up. I shouted to her stop and she said “but my dear, its spoiling my roses”. I finally managed to stop her and we phoned the police who sent a bomb disposal squad along-very brave men who disarmed bombs.
We were also fighting a war with America in the Far East against Japan. My brother was a bomber pilot in the Far East and was part of a squadron called a Path Finder squadron. This squadron flew before the main body of aircraft to find out where the guns were. They had to fly very low for this. They were also involved with the bombing of the infamous Burma railway. It was on one of these raids that he was shot down and killed. He is buried in Sumatra.
On a monument in the Far East to some very brave soldiers who were killed out there are these words;

“When you get home, speak to them and say,
For your tomorrow we gave our today…”

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.