Boston War‐time stories: Name: Irene A Chamberlain, Date of Birth 1930 Date of Interview 20/06/2015 at Boston Library Summary: Land Army in Boston Area WW2 Time periods discussed: 1945‐1950 in the Land Army Locations mentioned: Swineshead, Branston, Grimsby and Boston Topics covered: Land Army Copyright permission given – Yes Main Transcript Irene was born in Grimsby in 1930, during the war one of her friends aged 11 was killed in an air raid – she would have been too but she was late going to meet her. Her father and her brother were bus drivers in Grimsby and her mum was a bus conductor. In 1947, at the age of 16.5 Irene who had been working as a waitress in Grimsby volunteered for the Land Army. She had her medical in Grimsby but was sent to Swineshead to work. "There were 40 of us … and I carried on until the Land Army finished in 1950." They also worked alongside prisoners of war from Italy, Germany and Latvia. They did not mix socially, only through work. There were some POWs who elected to stay here and some who married. What was life like in the Land Army? We lived in a hostel with four people to a room in cubicle bunk beds. We were given breakfast before starting work at 7am and sandwiches to take out with us – either cheese or corned beef. At 4pm we would be given a hot meal, and then supper of bread and dripping. The wardens were quite strict and you had to be in by 10pm, when the doors were locked. They used to get a late pass sometimes and get the bus into Boston to go to the cinema, they also used to go to RAF dances at Coningsby. Irene met her husband because of her work in the Land Army. He worked with them on the land at Kirton. He was from Branston and was from a large family (9) Irene was proud to have been in the Land Army, ‐ "It made me think for myself," and it led to a better life – she might still have been working as a waitress in Grimsby. However it was hard work she worked through one of the coldest winters in 1947 and she remembered the difficulties of digging frozen potatoes out of the ground. As a result of working in the Land Army, Irene's garden has become her passion. In 1974 there was a reunion of the Women's Land Army at the Royal Albert Hall which Irene attended, and a group of friends from the WLA meet locally at Dorrington. In July 2008 Irene Chamberlain and many of the 45,000 former land girls were awarded a Badge of Honour by the British Government in recognition of their efforts. Boston War‐time stories: Name: Jean Dawson Date of Birth 1939 Date of Interview 20/06/2015 at Boston Library Summary: Memories of a childhood in Boston during WW2 Time periods discussed: WW2 Locations mentioned Boston Topics covered: Childhood memories Copyright permission given – Yes Main Transcript Jean's family have lived in the Boston area for a long time. Her great grandfather was a boat builder based in Pulvertoft Lane. Jean's earliest memories are of wartime in Boston. Whilst out playing in Silver Street when she was six years old, two women from the Red Cross came along and gave her mum a shoebox for her. The box contained marbles, a doll's cradle, a dolly in a sleeping bag, two red feathers and some sweets. It was a gift from children in the USA. Her home was bombed, but her grandfather rebuilt the house so the family moved back in in 1942. Her Mum had a lucky escape "if she had not gone downstairs to boil milk for me, she could have died – when the house was hit there was shrapnel in the bed." Jean's father volunteered as an air raid warden. Jean remembered seeing houses that were bombed and wondering why you could see all the way through the house. Jean was 6 years old in 1945 there was a May Fair and her father took her on one of the rides 'Moon Rocket' The whole fair was crushed with Forces people on leave both Army and RAF and women. There was a lot of drunkenness. One woman stood up whilst on the ride and went crashing down. Everything stopped and the police lifted her away. She remembered two RAF men from the Parachute Regiment who stayed locally Taffy and Bill, they were Red Berets and were training locally in preparation for Arnhem. Jean's Dad was friends with Harry who worked in the NAAFI , she remembers being sat on the bar whilst Harry went to a cupboard in the wall, he returned with a small square thing which he put in my mouth – that was my first experience of chocolate. Her Mum said it would probably make her feel sick. Jean also remembered seeing the minesweepers in the Port of Boston (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETiHg0_v210&feature=player_detailpage Fishing trawlers converted to minesweepers and fishermen recruited to crew them) Boston War‐time stories: Name and Contact details: Janet Green Date of Birth 1938 Date of Interview 20/06/2015 Summary: Lynn fishermen and James Thomas Whatmough KIA in WW1 Time periods discussed:WW1 and WW2 Locations mentioned, Lynn and Cleethorpes Topics covered: Hard life for Fishing families Copyright permission given – Yes Main Transcript My Great Grandfather was James Thomas Whatmough, he lived in Cleethorpes and was married to Nellie East, they had two children. I don't know much about James apart from the fact that he was killed in action and he was with the 5th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. I have his medal and his death plaque. Nellie had to marry again once he died and it was difficult as James children were not treated as well by their step father as his own children. Janet also had relatives who were part of the Leman family, a fishing family based in Lynn. There was quite a lot of rivalry between the Lynn fishers and the Boston fishers. They would play tricks on each other. Some of her relatives were Kate and Louisa Leman and her Great Grandfather John Leman was washed overboard, but she did not know if he was recovered or drowned, but thinks he probably drowned. Women of the Leman family were famous in Lynn as when the men were lost the women carried on the fishing business. But they did not really have a choice – when there was no fish coming in there was no income and Lynn was a very poor area at the time. ** I promised to find out what I could about James Thomas Whatmough and send this to Janet which I have done. The records on LTTP have been updated and Janet was going to see if she could find a photograph of him. Boston War‐time stories: Name and Contact details: Doreen Askew Date of Birth/ Age: 88 Date of Interview 20/06/2015 Summary: Land Army experiences around Kirton and Haverholme Time periods discussed: WW2 and post war period Locations mentioned, Kirton and Boston Topics covered: Land Army Copyright permission given – N/A Main Transcript I was born and brought up in Yorkshire in a mill town – Batley. I left school at 14 and went to work in the mill (woollen mill) but this nearly killed me, it was noisy and very dusty. I then went to work in the Foxes Biscuit factory which was much better. Batley was bombed quite a lot being in an industrial area, and people I knew where killed. When I was 18 I signed up. I think we went to the Labour Exchange to sign up , but I can't remember much about this. I chose the Land Army as my mother did not really want me to go and I thought she would feel better about me choosing the Land Army rather than the Navy or the WRAF or the Army. I felt I was ready for a change, ready to leave home but the first three nights away from home I was really homesick and cried a lot. We were given a uniform of green jumper and twill breeches like jodhpurs and dungarees for dirty work. We stayed in a hostel with a warden. The hostel in Kirton was a big old house near the Methodist Church. There were four rooms with four girls in each room in bunk beds. There was an inside bathroom with a massive bath. I was really shocked when I got there to see two girls in the bath together, I vowed that I would never do that! However within a couple of weeks we were all doing that – we needed a bath every night after working in the fields, but there wasn't enough time for us all to have separate baths. The work was hard it included potato setting, sugar beet and hoeing and muck carting. The work was mostly land work, rather than working with animals. The team was bused to where the work was. "We went to Haverholme a big estate near Sleaford, in a bus so old that I had never seen one like it." Later we were moved to a purpose built hostel at Swineshead , it was much bigger and we did not like it as much. Men still drove the tractors and the girls did most of the manual work. Sometimes horses were used as well. I remember having to take a Shire Horse from Fishmere End to Sutterton for shoeing. It was a long way and the journey took most of the morning. The farm people had put me on top of the horse, but on the journey a car back‐fired and the horse was frightened and reared up and I slid off. There was no‐one to help me back on so I walked alongside the horse instead – it felt much safer. After the shoeing the Blacksmith offered to help me back on, but I decided that I was happier to walk! Some of the girls I met have become lifelong friends. I met Margaret Chapman (married name Ward) at the station on the first day and we helped each other as we had to struggle with our cases. We have been friends ever since (sadly she died last year). We had a bit of a social life we went to a village dance in Kirton on a Saturday night and to the cinema in Boston. However you needed a late pass to go out. Normally the doors of the hostel were locked at 10.30pm. Some girls would go to the pub and have to climb in the window. But I was shy and didn't do that. I met my husband herein 1948. He was ill, he had TB and it took him 18 months to get better, but he did get better and I got a job in Marks and Spencer. My Mum was expecting me to go back to Batley and she had arranged a job for me, but I never went home. I stayed and got married instead. Boston War‐time stories: Name and Contact details: Frank Stanney Date of Birth/ Age: 90 Date of Interview 20/06/2015 Summary: Fire watching in Boston, Air Training Corps, RAF Time periods discussed: WW2 Locations mentioned, Boston and Wainfleet Topics covered: Fire Watching, Air Training Corps and RAF Copyright permission given – YES Main Transcript My father was Herbert Henry Stanley he served in the WWW1 in RASC. He lived in Wainfleet. I was born in Old Leake, but came to Boston to live. I left school at 14 and worked on the land. At the age of 15 I volunteered for the Air Training Corps, it was here that I learnt Morse Code. Whilst in the ATC we had to do Fire Watching duty from the top of the Boston Stump. I saw several attacks including a bomb dropped on West St next to Lovelies Bakery – 2 houses were demolished and also on Red Lion Street. As soon as I was 18 I volunteered for the RAF, I did initial training at St John's Wood in London and then went to Hereford for flying training. Whilst there I passed out and gained my Sergeant's stripes. I became a wireless operator and air gunner as I already knew Morse Code. This meant listening for recall and diversion messages in morse code. They had an intercom system in the plane but all other communications were done by morse code. I was stationed at Market Harborough and joined my crew there. I flew 10 missions to Germany, 5 to Italy and 2 transport flights. Apart from one person (a Flight Engineer who moved to a different job) we managed to keep the same crew throughout. We were very often shot at on raids. It always seemed really boring flying back – it seemed to take a long time. On one occasion when we were flying over France we saw some French people waving at us from the fields. We thought they were cheering us 'Vive Le RAF' but in fact they were waving their fists at us as we were flying quite low and we were upsetting the cows at milking time. On one occasion we had a dud engine on a mission to Italy and couldn't take off. We were hit over Braemen, it was a Saturday afternoon in bright sunshine, we lost an engine and had to fly back on three engines At the end of the war there were lots of opportunities with Flying Transport command. I flew in two missions ‐we would cram 24 POWs into the Lancaster along with the crew. It was extremely cramped and I had to move three of them out of the way to raise and lower the landing gear. I chose to be demobbed in February 1946 as my Mother was very ill and died in March. I came back to work in agriculture. I kept in touch with the rest of the crew and the pilot Edward Rucroft kept on flying up to his retirement I remember that a German Aircraft made an emergency landing in a field near Pillars Lane. It had been on a mission to Coventry. The crew were capture. There was a piece in the paper about it last year. Boston War‐time stories: Name and Contact details: Mr Sharp Date of Birth/ Age: Date of Interview 20/06/2015 Summary: Homeguard stories from Boston Area Time periods discussed: WW2 Locations mentioned, Boston Topics covered: Homeguard and Home front Copyright permission given – N/A Main Transcript My parents was Jack Sharp and Freda Sharp, both were born at the end of the First World War, both of them worked on the land. This was a reserved occupation during the Second World War. My father volunteered for the Home Guard. The Home Guard would meet at a house on Holland Fen (this house has now been demolished). They would operate searchlights on the fens to protect RAF Coningsby. He told a story of having to put out the fires in the cornfields which had caught fire when incendiaries were dropped. It is thought that the German bombers mistakenly followed the Forty Foot dyke instead of the River Witham, and thus missed bombing RAF Coningsby. There was a tragic incident for the Home Guard. They had organised rifle practice out on Holland Fen. The target was attached to a barn door. A Mr Mason opened the door and walked through just as Mr Ward was shooting. Mr Mason was killed. His father also helped with the recovery of a British aircrash on Kirton Fen, Mr Sharp thought two of the crew managed to parachute to safety but two were killed. His mum was working in the fields at the time and saw the plane come down. My mother worked on the farm and earned £1 per week. She still has certificates for Gas training and First Aid. She would cycle to Coningsby on a Sunday to watch the planes take off, they would take off, circle and then set off in formation. They would hear them come back in the early hours of the morning. The area was set up defensively but some of the defences were not very high tech – out on the marshes some of the look outs and pill boxes had telegraph poles placed in them to look like guns. All the bridges were wired with explosives so that they could be blown up in case of invasion. (e.g. Langrick Bridge and Freiston Bridge – unfortunately Freiston Bridge was accidentally blown up). Mr Sharp's Aunty was a post lady, she was issued with a tin hat and a gas mask and had a special armband. Rationing did not seem too bad if you lived in the country as you could always grow some vegetables and have chickens. After the war there was a parade in the park of all those who had contributed to the war effort including the Homeguard‐ there was a film made of it which is owned by the Lincolnshire Film Archive – my Dad is in the film Boston War‐time stories: Name and Contact details: Bob and Margaret Garlant Date of Birth/ Age: Date of Interview 20/06/2015 Summary: Time periods discussed: WW1 and WW2 Locations mentioned, Boston Topics covered: WW1 and Boston Deep Sea Fishing Co. RAF Copyright permission given – YES Main Transcript WW1 Margaret was born in Boston and her late paternal grandfather Eugene Murray, originally from Woolwich, came to Boston to work for The Boston Deep Sea Fishing Co. as a fisherman. When the fleet left Boston in the 1920s after an argument between the fleet owner and the local authority, Eugene stayed in Boston and became a member of the Dock Watch Police, which was run by the Borough Council. Eugene and his wife Elizabeth lived in a cottage in Spain Lane which is still there today. It had a loo across the yard in those days. Eugene served in WW1 . He was working as a fishing apprentice when he signed up . He was aged 19. He joined the Royal Field Artillery as a gunner. He was promoted up to Sergeant while in the Army and won the Military Medal. (Not sure what for) WW2 – Margaret's father was Eric Murray who lived in Boston as a child and for all his working life. He volunteered to serve with the RAF in WW2. As a Lincolnshire county champion runner, he became an RAF Physical Training Instructor and served in Africa for a time. (He is now 95 and still reluctant to talk about his experiences – he just says he saw some dreadful things but won't elaborate). He was demobbed at RAF Cranwell and we recall that he used to mention taking Margaret's Mum who also served in the RAF, on dates to Byard's Leap café for a slap up meal of beans on toast! One of Margaret's Uncles Jim Murray who still lives in Boston was a soldier at the D Day landings at the tender age of 17. He has been on reunions to France. Boston War‐time stories: Name: Anon. Date of Birth: 1935 Date of Interview: 01/08/2015 at Black Sluice Lock Cottages, Boston Summary: Memories of a childhood in Boston during WW2 Time periods discussed: WW2 Locations mentioned: Boston, Holbeach St Mark's Topics covered: Childhood memories Copyright permission given – Yes Main Transcript The lady was born in Boston in 1935. Her family moved from Holbeach St Mark's in 1932. Her father was a farm labourer who taught himself to repair shoes, and moved to Boston to work in the shoe shop on Wide Bargate. He eventually took over the shop in 1948. What do you remember about the war? I was born in 1935 so was only young when the war started. I remember going to school with my gas mask and having drills at school to learn how to put it on. Edward the teddy bear My father was a member of the ARP, and was Chief Air Warden for his area. I had won a teddy bear (called Edward) at the fair when I was three (it was bigger than me!). My father took the teddy on Sunday nights to the Assembly Rooms and used him to demonstrate how to use the incubators for babies to protect them against gas attacks. When we had gas mask drills we were timed, so we had to be as quick as possible putting them on. We had an air raid shelter at the school too. Everyone was short of food, and I remember at a school swimming match in 1948 that you could see that the children were still really skinny: "you could see their ribs." But we were really fortunate because my grandfather was a farmer, and he come up every Wednesday in his car on business, and brought us potatoes, eggs and vegetables. "If he'd been found out, he would have been in trouble." I remember I had a friend who was so poor that she had to the Police Station to get boots. They were black boots – there was no choice. I remember bombs dropping, it must have been in 1941. A time bomb dropped in front of Cammacks, the furniture shop, which was opposite our shop where we lived. We were evacuated in the middle of the night, just taking a few bits and pieces. We went to Quick Cleaners and stayed there for a few days until bomb disposal arrived and diffused the bomb. It was really frightening. I also remember a bomb was dropped behind our house in Threadneedle Street which killed several people and blew all our windows out. We didn’t have an air raid shelter at home. We were told to shelter nearer to the inside walls for more protection. I'm not sure it would have helped if we'd had a direct hit. I have a photo of myself and my brother playing in the snow on Bargate Green in front of some air raid shelters [see below]. They were right outside the shop. Bargate Green was where there was a big bonfire on V.E. Day. We were bundled off to our grandparents, and my father stood outside the shop to protect it, because everything was being ripped down to throw on the bonfire. "It was very scary." Bargate Green is now a car park. I can also remember an incident at my Grandad's farm, when an aircraft crashed on the marsh. We were very excited and ran across to look, but I don’t remember what happened to the pilot. German prisoners of war were brought to the farm to work. They were driven there by a civvie. One of them was called Willie, and we made friends with him. I can remember looking across the farm at The Stump in the distance and thinking that while it was still there my parents were still there. My late husband was in the Royal Observer Corps during the war. He served on a US Liberty Ship called the S/S Edwin L. Drake, at Omaha, during the D‐Day landings. He was there for 3 months, working with gunners, identifying enemy aircraft (which meant that he had to lots of stringent tests in identifying aircraft). The idea was that if told the gunners to shoot they were supposed to do as he said. He had some trouble at first with that, as they didn’t seem to trust his judgement, but eventually they realised that he really was an expert identifier. So much so, that the Master of the S/S Edwin L. Drake wrote him a glowing reference when he left. He rejoined the ROC after the war in Somerset, and was transferred to Lincoln, which was where I met him, as I had joined the ROC too.