Growing Up
In the 1930’s
And 40’s
by Gordon Axten
Edited by Alan J Hartley
1
Index Of Chapters.
Index Of Chapters. ................................ ................ 2
About The Author ................................ .............. 3
Introduction ................................ ........................ 4
My Earliest Memories................................. ......6
Leaving Junior School ................................ ...16
Life At Home ................................ .................... 20
My First Job. ................................ .................... 28
“I Was Called Up.”................................ .......... 42
Arriving In Normandy. ................................ ...51
A Serious Wound ................................ ............. 59
Returning Home At Last. ............................... 68
2
About The Author
Gordon Axten has been a local figure in the villages
around Little Haywood for most of his long life. Since I
first moved into the area when I was about 12 years old I
can remember seeing him walking everywhere, for miles
sometimes, between local towns. In my memories he has
never changed and grown old and he is still very
sprightly even though he is now over 80 years old.
For decades he has played darts in local pubs and for a
number of years he played in a team that I ran. It is well
known how many children he had and there is no doubt
that he has had a very full a life. He is well liked and
nobody would ever have a reason to say an unkind word
about him.
For several years now I have been an aspiring author
with a number of articles published in local newspapers
and several unpublished books to my name. After
reading my parents “War Time Memoirs” Gordon decided
that he would like to tell his tale of a life spent on the
railways. I suggested that he write it in his own words
and I would type it up and help with the editing. We did
this and “A Bygone Life On The Railways” was the
result. More recently he said that he would like to tell
about his earlier years. So he wrote his tale down and
the following book is that tale.
Alan Hartley.
3
Introduction
The story opens with Gordon recounting his very early
years as a young child who was well cared for despite the
severe hardships that faced his family. He vividly describes
a world far in the past and a way of life long gone where
hungry children would resort to picking berries and eating
any other food that they could find to supplement their
meagre diet.
School he found was not an exciting place where the
wonders of the world would be explained but merely
somewhere to go to learn to read and write. His home life
was very basic with no luxuries and money was in very
short supply in part because his father had left home to go
and live in London. Some of his memories are of more
pleasant things from a past world such as the “Flying
Circus,” the Airships and “Bower Day.”
As he started to grow older Gordon goes on to recount his
first jobs including working at a newly built air base that
was built for the onset of the Second World War. More
hardship followed with rationing and air raids. As the war
progressed Gordon obtained a new job at a railway station
in Lichfield. It was while working here that he received his
call up papers. He did return to life on the railways after
the war was over but that story is told in his other book
entitled “A Bygone Life On The Railways.”
4
The rest of the book tells of his training at a Shrewsbury
army camp and the exercises he went on in the south of
England. He was sent overseas to Normandy and it was
there that he really started to grow up after seeing some of
the horrors of war. Gordon was severely injured but luckily
he received the necessary care and treatment and was
shipped back to recover from his injuries in Scotland.
Finally he was invalided out of the army and returned
home to his mother as a mature young man before the war
had finished.
5
My Earliest Memories.
I was born in 1925 and my first memories are those of
going to the Isle of Man on holiday. This was the only
holiday that I ever had with my parents. Of course I can
only remember the things that stuck out in my mind as I
would only be about 2 ½ years old at the time. Where I
lived I grew up next to a large family whose youngest son
was about a year junior to myself so we became playmates.
I won’t say friends because we disagreed quite a lot. My
dad worked for the Post Office and he and my mum argued
a lot even to the extent of throwing things at one another.
As I remember it he was a drinker and when mum was
expecting him home he would spend hours in the pub. He
never did the garden or any decorating or any thing like
that so my mum must have been frustrated. He also kept
her short of money.
At least I had plenty of freedom and was allowed to play
outside with my pal from next door. There were no
expensive toys and we did not have bikes as soon as we
could walk unlike the kids today. In fact the first bike I had
was a second hand one that I bought myself after I left
school. I can’t remember much how we entertained
ourselves but I think that we used to try and make things
ourselves. I know kite flying was a must. We would make
6
these with a few sticks from the hedge and a piece of
material we had begged from our mothers. We would quite
happily spend hours tying the material onto the frame that
we had made. The tail was a piece of string with bits of
paper fastened on to it. There were other children about the
same age and we all used to get on together quite well.
Some of the other kids were from good homes with their
dads in good jobs whereas I had nothing, no toys of any
sort, no sweets and the barest minimum of food. It is hard
to imagine today that I never saw sweets. These days many
kids are reared on sweets, crisps and other snacks.
Never the less I had
freedom to play and
we used to get
together and go up
the lanes into the
fields where we were
always making dens
and pretending that
we were living in the
woods like Robin
Hood. We used to
make
bows
and
arrows but we only
shot them at targets.
The winter was my
favourite time of the
year as I always
loved snow and frost.
Making a slide on the
7
path or road in front of the house was a common past time.
We very rarely saw a car on the road and there were still
horse drawn farm vehicles about.
The couple that lived two doors from me had no children
and I suppose in common with many today didn’t like to
see other peoples kids enjoying themselves. She was in the
habit of going out on a winters night and putting ashes on
the slides that we played on.
A game that we used to play a lot was with cigarette cards.
We would stand about 4 yards from a wall and would in
turn skim a card at the wall. There were two variations on
this game, in one, the card nearest to the wall after so many
goes, would pick up the lot and the in other game the aim
was to land on a card that had already been skimmed. Of
course we did not get the cards from our own packets as
kids did not smoke at all in those days but we used to beg
them from anyone with a packet of fags. Hoops was
another popular game. Hoops could be bought but I have
played for hours with an old bike wheel without tyre or
inner tube bowling it along with a stick. Hide and seek was
also popular and as I grew up in the countryside we kids
had the right surroundings to play this game to our hearts
delight.
We often used to make our own toys and one that we use to
play with a lot was a cotton reel. We used to put a blob of
candle wax on the two holes at each end and put an elastic
band through the hole and wind the two ends with a couple
of matches. As it was released it would move along the
8
ground and we laughingly called these contraptions tanks. I
can also remember a toy boat that could be bought for a
few pence that had a novel means of propulsion that I have
never seen employed on a toy since although it worked on
such a simple idea. At the near end of the craft there was a
cylinder, very much the size and shape of a mustard
powder tin that had a cork in the top. The container was
filled with water and from this device were two small pipes
that led to the water. A small piece of candle was placed
under the boiler and lit. As soon as the water began to boil
the liquid was pushed through the pipes and moved the
boat along. This idea was so simple and is similar I
suppose to the modern jet foils which nowadays cross the
English Channel daily. They are I believe driven by water
that is sucked in and forced out at the rear, but of course
they use jet engines for power. The idea is the same though
as they use water for propulsion that is forced out under
pressure from the rear.
I can well remember seeing an airship come over the house
when I was about 5 years old. I had not been sent to school
and there was a commotion from the lady next door so we
rushed out and watched the craft fly over. It was only a few
9
hundred feet up and it looked very impressive as you can
imagine. I’m not sure what the size of it was but I would
guess at 3 or 4 hundred feet in length. We learned later that
this airship crashed and blew up landing at Beauvais in
France the next day. It was the R101 and was a British
airship. I have since found out it was October 5th 1930
when it crashed killing all 48 passengers. According to
records, construction of the R101 and its sister ship the
R100, was finished in 1929. The R100 could carry 100
people, had 6 gasoline engines and was built along
Zeppelin designs but the R101 was somewhat different as
it had steel girders and 5 Diesel engines.
On the subject of airships it was not just the British that
developed airships as America built some and of course so
did the Germans. Several designs and modifications were
adapted and tried out after the invention of petrol engines
which of course are essential to controlled flight. In 1928
the German’s built the Graf Zeppelin and in 1936 the last
word in airships the Hindenburg was built. This airship
carried thousands of passengers across the Atlantic but
caught fire when mooring at Lakenhurst New Jersey in
may 1937. After this tragic event and many others, airships
were soon taken out of service. The prime factor was that
the hydrogen gas, which we all know is the lightest
element, is also very flammable. All craft made after this
time that flew and the more modern small advertising ones,
which are still around, are filled with Helium. Helium is
not as effective because it is heavier than Hydrogen but of
course much safer as it does not burn. Fortunately at the
time airships were withdrawn passenger planes were being
10
built carrying 15 or 20 people. I consider myself lucky
seeing an airship in flight a few years before they were
discarded.
As I said before I had plenty of freedom but I did not run
wild however Spring time was a time to go bird nesting. As
soon as the leaves started bursting out on the hedges we
were off. I think this is when I got interested in nature and I
soon noticed that Blackbirds and Thrushes were the first
birds to build nest and lay their eggs. When we found a
nest with eggs in we often used to break one to see if they
were fresh and if they were we would make a hole in both
ends with a thorn and then suck the egg out of the shell.
This may seem like vandalism but it does not compare with
what goes on today. I did it then because I was hungry. We
also used to cut the new seasons growth of the end of the
briars, peel the outer skin off and eat them. We would get
things like frogs spawn and keep it in a jar. We also knew
the time to catch newts which we kept in a jar as well. It
must have been springtime because that is when they mate
and lay their eggs in the ponds. Summer was a good time
as we also had blackberries to go at and although we
started off with a jar or small basket to fill we very rarely
arrived home with any fruit.
While I am on my younger years I was badly scolded when
I was about 5 ½ years old. My oldest brother had been
making a bottle for my baby sisters, the twins that is and he
had left the kettle on the floor in the kitchen. I ran in to get
a drink of water and managed to hook the kettle round my
foot. I was scolded up my right leg from ankle to hip.
11
There were of course no
house phones then but
someone went about ½ a
mile to the nearest public
phone and called a pub in
the town which was used
by my uncle who had a car. He came and picked me up
then took me to hospital. The hospital then was nothing
like today as it had been converted from 2 or 3 houses that
stood in a side street in the town. I was in care quite a long
time but I don’t remember how long. I do recall that my
mother took me for treatment in a pushchair
An Early House Phone.
for weeks. As I had not been at school long when this
happened I lost a valuable start in my education. I can’t of
course remember when I learnt to read but I was an avid
reader and as the only books I had to read were a set of
encyclopaedias I quickly filled my head with a lot of facts
that were not much help for everyday use but never the less
started me on the path of trying to grasp the knowledge of
unusual subjects. When I started back to school it seemed
very tame as I wanted to learn about the things that had got
me interested while reading by myself at home. The system
employed then taught nothing interesting. I had a great
interest in languages but of course the ordinary schools did
not teach them in those days. There were no library books
available and if it was possible to buy books on the subject
as we can today the cost would have been beyond my
mums pocket, but, I don’t think they were sold at that time.
12
But changing the theme, one of the high lights in the
Summer was a visit by the “Flying Circus.” These died out
many years ago but in the 1930s they
used to travel round the country and
Lichfield was an annual rendezvous.
For any one that does not know what
a flying circus was it contains 3 or 4
planes usually the single engine sort
and if you were lucky an autogiro,
the forerunner of the helicopter. One could go for a short
flight in the planes for a few shillings and it was usual for a
chap to jump out by parachute some time during the
performance. Large crowds used to assemble at these
events because planes were not very common and few
people had actually seen one on the ground.
An Early Radio.
As I have said there was very little to keep the kids in the
house as all the entertainment was to be found outside but
we had to make it ourselves and when they talk about
youngsters today being bored because they have nothing to
do but watch TV and play on computers all day I am
disgusted. They use the excuse of having nothing to do so
that they can go out and smash somebody’s property or
beat up some old lady. I would use my childhood as an
example to point out that this is a feeble excuse.
One of my favourite past times was running between the
telegraph poles. Sometimes two of which we used as marks
for sprinting between and if occasionally we wanted to go
on a longer run we would run round the block, about 2
13
miles. I must say we were very fit in those days. There was
no nibbling at snacks and sweets or pop all day and of
course we did not sit around a lot doing nothing.
One day three of us set out for school and decided not to
go, instead we spent all day going miles over the fields
with no food and no drinks. When we found a suitable
stream we drank out of it if we were thirsty. That day we
took of about 8.30 am but of course we had no idea of the
time and managed to arrive home ¼ of an hour or so early.
When my mum said I was early I just said that we had been
good and that we had been let out early. We had a truant
inspector who used to ride round on a motor bike and to us
he was a complete monster. I know that we were found out
but I can’t remember the outcome.
From 5 years old I walked alone or with my friend from
next door to school although the distance was a good mile.
Dinner time we ran home for something to eat and then
back to school and when we came out of school at 4pm it
was a run home again. Part of the journey home consisted
of a long steep hill and when it was raining we used to find
a matchstick each and put them in the gutter to race them
seeing whose was first to go down the next drain. I can’t
imagine kids playing with a couple of dead matchsticks
today. They may do if they were still live and they could
find something to burn.
There was a building on the way to school we used to pass
which we called the workhouse. A number of old men
lived there and I think they must have been destitute. A few
of them used to stand by the gate and watch the world go
14
past. As kids we used to pick up fag ends and give them to
them to smoke in their clay pipes. As I said there were no
state handouts so it is quite likely they had no money at all.
Douglas, My Playmate with his Mom and Dad in 1933
15
Leaving Junior School
Things did not alter much when I left Junior school at 11
years old. Most of our interests stayed the same with
regards to games and past times. I think that we played
cricket a bit if anyone was rich enough to afford a bat and
ball but I never got into football and to this day do not
follow football. At school we had a sports day once a year
when there were competitions such as running and jumping
that would nowadays be called track events but little else
because of a lack of equipment. I don’t remember having
games classes or playing football or cricket matches
against other schools as they do nowadays.
I wanted to learn all sorts of things when I went to the
older school but education was absolutely at a minimum
and the things that I wanted to learn were not taught. No
library books, no language laboratory’s and I can honestly
say that I learnt nothing of any use at school except being
able to read write even though I hadn’t got access to the
books I wanted to read. Nor did we have painting or
drawing which was another thing that I was interested in.
Some of the better equipped schools taught craft subjects
such as metalwork and woodwork for boys and cookery,
laundry and sewing for girls but my recollections are that
we had none of these at my school.
16
In music lessons we sometimes sang to the accompaniment
of a piano played by the teacher. Mostly we learnt hymns
but occasionally we were allowed to sing something more
exciting like “Green sleeves.” Also in the so called music
lessons the teacher would sometimes play a few chords on
the piano and scribble a few notes on the blackboard, then
he would expect us to learn to read music, but nobody was
given instruments like they are today and no one was
allowed to touch the piano. How one was supposed to be
interested in music under these circumstances I don’t
know. Today kids are given the use of keyboards and other
instruments but even so there are very few who take it up.
There were none of the modern facilities found in today’s
schools. There was no means of getting snacks at school
and no provisions for even getting a drink of water. The
toilets were very basic and were outside in a little building
separate from the main classrooms. There weren’t even any
washbasins provided in them for washing hands.
In a lot of the secondary schools boys and girls were taught
separately, often in adjoining buildings and sometimes at
different schools all together.
At the age of 11 all children did what was called an 11+
but I don’t remember doing the exam at all. Those that
passed were eligible to go to grammar school, but that was
for the privileged few and I believe that there were fees in
those days for students. Some very lucky ones could win
scholarships that paid the fees for them. I don’t remember
17
doing any exams at all and no qualifications could be had
for ordinary pupils at school. There was no staying on at
school to learn more, no G.C.S.E.’s, no day colleges, we
just finished with school at 14 yrs and had to find a job
because there was no money to be had from anywhere
unless we found work. Believe me education for the
masses was being able to read and write.
I would probably have been about 12 or 13 when I started
drawing at home and I used to sit in the house instead of
playing outside. One of my favourite past times was to
paint on glass. I used to get old pictures, take the picture
out of the frame and paint (usually landscapes) on the glass
with the same small tins of paint that one used to paint
model aircraft and such like. My mum somehow managed
to find the coppers to spare to get me those.
I think a rag and bone man used to call sometimes but any
rags we had I used to wear and it was difficult to find
bones in “bread and jam” which was what I was brought up
on most of the time. I used to run the odd errand around for
people and was asked if I wanted money or something to
eat. I always asked for food because I was always hungry.
My father left us to go and live and work in London for the
Post Office when I was about 7 years old and took my 9
year old brother with him. Of course he was not in the
position to look after him so he made his house with my
dads childless sister who lived in Woking.
18
My brother had a good education and much better life than
me. When he was about 17 years old he went into the
Airforce and got his commission as an officer in Canada
when he was 18 years old and finished up as a squadron
leader. He went through the war as a navigator and went on
many raids. After the war was over he had positions in
Paris and lived for a time in Hong Kong. He had a crash at
sometime and obviously did some lasting damage as he
was discharged with a good invalids pension I think when
he was about 50 years old. He married and had no children
but he lived a very good life style until he died aged about
60 in about 1995.
One thing which sticks out in my mind, was a very vivid
display of the Northern Lights about 1937. As kids we had
no idea what it was but I can remember the red and green
light like searchlights in the sky. Eventually a know it all
who went to the grammar school came along and told us
what it was. It was a long time before I was to see anything
like it again but I did a short time before I retired in 1990.
It was around the same time when there was a huge fire at
a tyre factory in Birmingham, probably Dunlop’s and
although Lichfield is about 20 miles distant a huge pall of
black smoke covered the sky.
19
Life At Home
I can recall when my dad went to live in London we were
very hard up. My dad sent my mum one pound a week but
the rent for the house was ten shillings which took half of
that straight away and as there was myself, my older
brother and my younger two sisters it did not leave much to
live on. I did not have any decent clothes or shoes and as
you can imagine not much to eat and certainly nothing like
luxuries. We had to buy coal and not much of that so the
time spent in the living room was quite a luxury in the
winter. There was an electric meter that my mum used to
put one shilling coins in but the only power used was for
lights. In the kitchen was a gas meter which took pennies
and gas was used for cooking and boiling a kettle although
I can’t remember many hot meals and I certainly did not
come home from school to a cooked meal. I think that the
electric meter was emptied every quarter and there was a
system of giving a rebate that was very welcome as the
man would give two or three shillings back.
The bathroom was down stairs and lead off the kitchen.
This contained a bath that had a large copper boiler at one
end which had to be filled with a bucket and was heated by
a fire underneath. When it was hot enough the water could
be run off into the bath by the use of a tap on it. Never the
20
less you can imagine that having a bath was a once a week
thing which, thinking about it today, was probably a good
thing, as there is some evidence today that being too clean
is not the healthiest thing. In my opinion too much
cleanliness is why so many youngsters today have asthma
allergies, eczema and such. We had none of the cleaning
products as today which fill cupboards in most houses. We
were not taught to wash before eating and wash after going
to the loo and there were none of the bleaches and such for
cleaning toilets and wiping down food surfaces. But going
back to me early statement about bathing once a week you
can imagine the performance getting the hot water for a
bath. It would have been impossible to have baths every
day.
My mum used to wash clothes with a
Dolly Tub and for anyone who does not
know what this is, as I remember it was a
galvanised tub which you poured hot water
in and then the soap was added. I can only
recall 2 soap powders in use then and they
were Rinso and Persil. There weren’t very
many then, unlike nowadays when there
are many to choose from. The wash was
then agitated with the dolly made of wood
and about the size of a spade. After rinsing
the washing was put through a mangle
which was a manual piece of machinery. It
consisted of a metal stand with two rollers
that were turned by hand. The clothes were passed between
the rollers to squeeze out the excess water. As I was old
21
enough to turn the handle I loved to do this to help. After
being put through the mangle the clothes were hung out to
dry and dried much quicker.
There were no electric irons in
those days and my mum used an
iron made of iron which was
heated by the fire or by putting it
on the gas ring.
We had milk deliveries then
but the milkman came by
horse and cart and brought
the milk in a churn to the
door. The milk was then
ladled into a jug to measure
it. Now and again my mum
used to buy a rabbit from
him which no doubt he had
shot himself because he only used to charge for the
cartridge which was 6d. I think that is 2 ½ pence in today’s
money. He must have been a good shot as he gave the
impression that he hit a rabbit each shot he fired.
My mum did not have much money to keep us and even
less to spare for heating, so, she used to sometimes buy a
bag of slack off the coalman for a few pence. Then she
used to spend time riddling it to separate the larger bits
from the dust which were then put on the fire. The dust was
put in a bucket and had a little water poured onto it to
moisten it. The wet dust would bind together and then
22
handfuls of this were wrapped in newspaper and put at the
back of the fire where it would burn slowly. A thing that
fascinated me when I was a kid was occasionally we would
get a foggy morning and mum would say, “Good thick and
foggy.” She would then get a couple of sheets of
newspaper, shove them up the chimney and set fire to them
shutting the draw plate and thereby setting fire to the soot
in the chimney. This was done on a foggy morning so that
no one would see.
I never saw toilet paper until I went
into the army and never wore
underpants till I was issued with
them in the forces. We made our
own toilet paper at home out of
squares of newspaper with string
threaded through it which was then hung on a nail in the
wall. This was fine if you wanted to have a read while you
were sitting but it was not advisable to use it first and then
read it! When I was younger the toilet was down the
garden in a little brick shed and was called a privy. If you
were caught short in the night then, instead of going down
the garden to the outside loo you used a chamber pot that
we kept under our beds for emergencies.
A knife grinder used to come round at times on his bike but
my mum never had occasion to use his services. She used
to sharpen her knives herself on the stone doorstep.
I can also remember pegging rugs with bits of material
from old clothes. This was a time consuming process but at
23
the end of it you had a rug that had cost very little except
for the effort put into making it. We also knitted squares of
plain simple knitting that were stitched together to make a
multicoloured and warm cover for the beds to keep out the
cold at night. We boys had shirts with detachable collars.
You don’t see them made like this these days but the collar
fastened on to the back and front of the shirt with studs. If
the collar wore out you could replace it with a new one and
so make the shirt last much longer. I have not seen any
shirts like this since I was a child. Darning socks too was a
regular job for mothers and I seem to recall a device made
of wood and shaped like a mushroom that was put inside
the sock making it easier to darn the offending hole.
Sometime between the ages of 7-12 I got interested in
fishing. Naturally I could not buy the proper gear so my pal
and myself used to make our own from a bent pin, a piece
of thread, a float made from a piece of cork and a bit of
string and a rod made from a stick out of the hedge. After
finding a few worms we would be gone hours. The nearest
canal was 2 ½ to 3 miles away so it took a while travelling.
If I caught a couple of tiny roach or perch my mum used to
let me fry them in a pan in a bit of margarine and they were
very tasty. One never sees these fish here for sale but I
believe in some parts of Europe they can be readily bought
for food.
Of course spending so much time in the countryside it was
hard not to be interested in what we saw but I did take
more interest than my playmates. I’ve seen huge flocks of
Starlings numbering many thousands taking off from the
24
fields with a roar like thunder and that is a sight which is
not seen today. The canals at that time were so clear it was
possible to walk along the towpath and see the fish
swimming in the water, even under the bridge. With six
feet of water you could still see to the bottom. Another
thing I have seen a few times was thousands of froglets
after a thunderstorm swarming from the canals to find new
homes across the fields and that again is something else
that I have not seen since I was a child.
I often think of the prices then and compare them with
now. Then the average adult wage was about 3 pounds a
week and that would be for 6 days and would have been for
working more than 8 hours a day. I know my mum used to
talk about someone with a 4 pound a week job like we
would talk about someone earning 50 thousand pounds a
year now.
I can remember one night my mother had gone out and left
my older brother and myself at home. I must have been
about 8 and he was 4 years older. We were sitting in the
living room when we suddenly heard a scrubbing and
tapping at the door which led to a passage. We were very
frightened as the noise went on for a long time. Neither of
us dared to open the door, but eventually I plucked up
courage to go through the front door and knock on my next
door neighbours door for help as they had several grown up
sons. One of them walked through our house and walked
straight to the offending door. He opened it with no
hesitation and found the noise came from a cat that had
been banging a large bone on the door. The cat was holding
25
the bone in its mouth it. I can remember thinking at the
time how brave this chap was and hoping I could have
done the same at his age.
I cannot remember my older brother playing with us and
I’ve no idea what he used to do. We got on OK together
but he didn’t mix with my pals and I. Nothing unusual
happened in the next few years but I can recall having an
accident at school when cut my leg open badly. I went to
the hospital for treatment but I think that I walked there.
Shrove Tuesday was a big day in town and a large fair took
place in the school playing fields with part of it in the town
as well. It was then that they held Bower Day. I think this
was late in the Summer. There was also a procession with a
Bower Queen. I lived a small distance from the main line
railway station and on the day of the Bower we used to sit
on the grass banking by the station watching the Jazz
Bands arriving on special trains. These used to run from
factories which organised their own bands. The members
who were dressed in colourful costumes, would form up
and march to the town playing their instruments.
The fair itself was fascinating to us youngsters and
although no money was available for us to spend we still
found plenty to look at. I can remember the bike racing in
the park which had a good track, perhaps ¼ mile in length
and many hours were spent watching the athletes racing
round. Another highlight was the stalls which sold rock and
also apples which I suppose you could describe as rock
apples as they were covered in the same confectionary as
26
sticks of rock are made but looked more like toffee apples.
The guy would stand there with a paper bag and kept
adding different sticks of rock and apples asking for a
shilling.
27
My First Job.
In 1939 I reached the age of 14 and left school. I left in the
summer holidays and as my birthday came in August I did
not have to go back. There were no qualifications to be had
then and no staying on at school to get them, so, I left
school only with the great ability to read and write. I had to
find work of course and found a job delivering newspapers
for Smiths. I was given a bike to deliver my wares but this
was kept at the shop and as I lived over a mile away I had
to get a bike to get there every day. As I had never ridden a
cycle till then I had to learn to ride it. I had to buy my own
bicycle as my mother could not afford it.
The winter of 1939 was very bad and when I went out of
the house the day after Boxing Day to go to work there was
28
deep snow and it was still pouring down. When I collected
my papers for delivery I had to push my bike as there was
too much to ride through. It was a long cold winter that
year and I had frost bitten ears with running sores. I stuck
the job till sometime in February and then I found a job in
a garage where I worked for about the same amount of
money, about 8 shillings a week.
I was not there too long and then got a job with a gang of
men working on Fradley Air Base that was being built just
outside Lichfield. I used to make the tea and run errands
for the workmen. Tea of course was one of the things
which was strictly rationed and the boss had to apply for a
special allocation for tea and sugar which was also
rationed. Cheese, bread, bacon, margarine, meat, and
sweets were also rationed. Kids under 5 years old did not
get tea rations. I think bread and cakes were also on this
list. Vegetables and eggs were not if you could get them
and were a luxury. Fruit was in very short supply as things
like bananas were not imported at all in those days and
oranges were very scarce. The concentrated orange juice
was reserved for babies and toddlers being rich in vitamins.
All through the war rose hips were gathered and
concentrated into rose hip syrup for young children as well.
I can remember talk of eggshells being ground to powder
and given to babies as a calcium supplement but whether
this was true I don’t know. I’m almost sure that clothing
was also rationed and its very upsetting today when people
especially youngsters spend so much on clothing.
29
A Wartime Picture Of A Family In Their Drab Clothing
Typical Of The Time.
Anyway the building of the hangers was quite a thing and I
used to take delight in walking along the top of them.
By this time air raids were a common occurrence, mainly
at night and my mother, twin sisters and I spent many
nights sitting in a shelter under the stairs our house. The
shelter had a door on and we had pillows and blankets and
somewhere to stand a candle. When the all clear went the
gentleman from next door was in the habit of bringing a
cup of tea round for my mum and then if it was early
30
enough we would all get into our own beds for a couple of
hours.
A German “DOODLE BUG”
The German “Flying Bomb” or “Doodle Bug” was used a
lot to bomb Britain from a distance. Here are a few details
that I have since found out about them. The craft was 21
feet long and had a wingspan of 16 feet. The machine
weighed just over 2 tons including ½ ton of explosive. It
was fired from a ramp with a steam driven catapult. The
sled was perched on the ramp which started the pulse jet
engine once it had reached a certain speed. The jet motor
kept the cycle going. The Flying Bomb flew at 400 mph
and was guided by a gyroscope that kept it on course, but
London was a big target to hit and they had invented a very
clever device to bring them down in the area which was
chosen. This was a small propeller on the nose which
turned as it went through the air and this was connected to
a meter. When the meter reached a pre-determined figure
the fuel was cut off and the tail fins tilted down so the
machine dived. The V1 name was from the German
“Vergeltungswaffe Ein,” Reprisal Weapon One.”
31
Be like dad, keep mum
This Slogan Referred To Not Revealing Military Secrets.
Careless Talk Costs Lives
This Again Referred To Keeping War Secrets From The
Enemy.
Dig For Victory
This Slogan Persuaded People To Grow Their Own
Vegetables To Help Rationing And The War Effort.
The Propaganda Machine In World War Two Used Many
Slogans To Get Across The Message To The General
Public.
32
This poster was used in the Second World War after its
success in the first.
33
I did not miss my dad as he had left when I was 6 or 7 and
I did not cause my mum any worry and I got on with my
sisters. We never fought or argued unlike many siblings.
My eldest brother joined the navy when he was 14 years
old so he never had to find a job. He was 4 years older than
me so I would have been about 10 when he went. I used to
look forward to him coming home on leave as he would
take me to the pictures and buy me things. This would be
just before the war. When war was declared he would of
course be an adult and was on active service. I know he did
several trips to Dunkirk and served most of the war on
Mine Sweepers.
To go back to when I was 15 or 16 years old I used to go
with my pals to watch the planes at the now completed air
base as that was very exciting. Besides Wellingtons and
other bombers there were Spitfires and Hurricanes. We
were able to get on the towpath of the canal which was
outside the Air Base perimeter and as a runway started the
other side of the canal we could almost literally touch the
planes. I found the gliders most exciting which we could
watch on training flights. These were almost as large as the
plane that towed them but the pilots were trained to land as
fast as possible because to stay in the air too long made
them a sitting duck when used in action. They were towed
up then released and they dived straight down, levelled off
and made a belly landing.
34
I can recall one night at home when we had been sitting
under our stairs and it had gone quiet. My mum and I had
gone outside to have a look around when something came
whistling down out of the sky. I shouted, “Down,” which I
did but my mum reacted like many females and ran into the
house screaming which was probably the worst thing to do.
As it happened nothing occurred and I came to the
conclusion it was probably an Ack-Ack shell that had
failed to explode in the air and had fallen to earth.
There were about a dozen houses in the road where I lived
owned by the council and several railway workers lived in
some of them. I had a ticket collector one side and a guard
the other with a signalman and a booking clerk a bit further
along. At this time the railways probably employed more
people than any other private company in the whole
country. I did not stay long on the job at the aerodrome as
35
out of the blue I received an offer of a job as junior porter
in Lichfield Trent Valley station. My next-door neighbour,
the ticket collector, worked there and he persuaded me to
take it. The job was very handy as the railway station was
only 10 minutes walk away from where I lived. At that
time it was said that a job with the railway was a job for
life. It was to be so for me but one cannot say that today.
By then the war had started and there was a shortage of
male workers so one of the adult workers on each shift was
a woman. I got on fine with the two women who worked
there.
A Gas Mask, Carry Bag and Helmet. The gas mask had to
be carried at all times because of the risk of air raid gas
attacks.
36
National ID Cards had to be carried by everyone during
and for some years after the war. It was an offence not to
produce it when asked by a policeman.
37
There were many air raids and I can remember well
hearing the sirens going off when I was on the late shift in
the winter months.
Most raids were at night because our daytime defences
were so good that the Nazis could not keep pace with their
heavy losses. We had no proper lights to work with and
only had oil lamps. A few bombs were dropped on the
suburbs of the town but not because these were targets. I
think that some pilots could see the Ack Ack over
Birmingham and Coventry which were regular targets and
decided it was too dangerous so got rid of their cargo and
flew back home. I imagine the technology today would not
allow them to do this but in those days it was a fly by wire
organisation.
I have already mentioned the early Doodle Bugs or V1’s
that the Germans used to bomb us from a distance without
putting pilots and planes at risk and as the war went on the
Germans developed the V2 “Vergeltungswaffe Zwei” as it
was called, which was 46 feet long, carried 8 tons of fuel
and 1 ton of explosives as payload making a total weight of
12 tons. The fuel was liquid Oxygen and alcohol and the
machine included a small steam pump which used
Hydrogen Peroxide. This was to pump the fuel into the
combustion chamber. The rocket however only ran for 1
minute, soon after launch the device was put into a 45
degree position and then it travelled like a shell reaching a
height of about 60 miles and doing 2,000 mph when it hit
the ground. At 3 times the speed of sound one never heard
38
them approaching and in addition to the explosive in the
nose the weight and speed must have added to the
devastation with the kinetic energy. It was a very clever
device and as we all know was the forerunner of all the
space research rockets of today.
During the time when I worked as a
lad on the station and was doing the
night watch for fire bomb attacks I
can remember going home one
morning and as I opened the door I
could smell gas. The dog which we
had at that time was stretched out on
the mat. I opened all the doors to let
the gas out and after checking that
my mum and sisters were ok I
started looking round and found that
the gas poker had been switched on.
Most people alive today won’t know
what a gas poker is so I’ll describe
one. It was a device like a poker but
thicker with perforations along it
and the whole thing was connected
to gas a pipe. The poker was placed
in the fireplace and lit, then coal was
placed round it and it was
withdrawn when the coal was alight.
I came to the conclusion that the dog must have caught the
switch some time during the night switching it on and I
was glad I came home when I did.
39
We had gas and electric which proved very useful during
the war with power cuts being a regular hazard. We had
two gas lights in those days with one in the living room and
one in the kitchen. We found them a boon when the electric
failed.
The cold winters during the years of the war were very
severe indeed and I can’t stress enough how cold they were
compared to those of recent winters. I lived with my
mother at home and I remember waking one morning and I
could hear laughing in the bedroom. When I asked what
was amiss she remarked that her false teeth were frozen in
the glass at the side of the bed. With no central heating and
just a bit of fire in the living room the upstairs part of the
house was icy cold.
A Local Church Yard Covered In Snow.
40
My work on the railway was not to exciting then apart
from getting to know some Yanks when they came into the
war. There was a transport office on the station and we had
a permanent staff in the office there.
The station then was typical of any town and constructed
along the familiar Victorian lines that you see everywhere.
It had a booking hall, office, porters room, gents toilet and
waiting rooms in which were the ladies toilets. The station
master also had his office of course. The platforms were
wooden on the high level in the early days of my career on
the railways and it was common to have trouble with fires
in summer time when the timbers were dry. The risk of
fires was an ever-present danger with steam trains
wherever you were on the railways.
During the war Lichfield station had a café built where you
could get sandwiches and cakes and hot drinks. I think this
was put there really because of the war and the fact that the
station was a staging post for a lot of troop exchanges. We
dealt with an army barracks and the R.A.F. airfield nearby.
I would be guessing to say that larger stations must have
had tea rooms for many years earlier, possibly almost as
long as the railways themselves.
While I was at the station I was called up for the army and
I think the tale of my youth could be extended to include
this.
41
“I Was Called Up.”
One day I got a letter to say that I had been called up and
had to report to Shrewsbury at Copthorne barracks. I was
18 years and 3 months then. My mum was upset, but, I
didn’t mind as I saw it as some sort of adventure although
of course I had no option. I arrived there with lots of other
18 year olds. There was one guy with us who must have
been close to 40 years old and it turned out that he was a
very well known footballer who had been capped for
England a few times and played for West Bromwich. It did
not mean anything to me as I never took interest in the
game and still don’t.
I loved the training and exercise as I was fit and found it a
challenge to get through a strenuous route march or a
forced march with no trouble. A forced march involved
walking fast for a few hundred yards, then trotting a few
hundred and the walking again and continuing like this for
perhaps 5 or 6 miles. It was great fun to go on field
exercises as it was like a game crawling about the hillsides
and attacking the “enemy position.” With better food than I
had been used to and the exercise I got very fit and felt up
to anything that training could throw at me. Some of it was
quite hairy though.
42
We often went into the Welsh hills and I can remember one
routine we went through was to crawl across an open
stretch of land with Bren guns firing about 3 feet above the
ground and every 3rd or 4rth bullet was a tracer round so
that we were able to see the shots going away from us. This
is supposed to teach you to keep your head down and I for
one did not need many lessons! Another thing we trained
on was throwing hand grenades. We stood in a trench with
another piece cut out both ends with an instructor and were
told that if we dropped the grenade to dive in the recess and
the instructor would go into the other side. Of course when
I threw my grenade instead of lobbing it 30 yards or so I
hung on to it and dropped it about a few feet or so away on
top of the trench. We both dived for cover and were just
covered in dirt and pebbles. “Lesson learnt the hard way!”
Bearing in mind I was only 18 years old and I suppose a bit
big headed like many of that age I told my Sergeant that I
could throw a grenade further than he could. Grenades are
supposed to be lobbed but I threw mine like one would
throw a ball. I did throw further but he said they had to be
lobbed a certain way and a trained soldier does not argue
with his Sergeant.
We went on exercises in the Welsh hills and when we were
there towards the end of Winter we had to wash and shave
in a nearby stream and it was that cold that ice had formed
round the edges of the water. Even when in the barracks we
only had access to cold water but I seem to remember that
showers were available once a week. The Copthorne
barracks where I did my initial training was a proper
barracks and was built for that purpose yet it was still a bit
43
functional by modern standards. Six weeks were spent
there and then I was moved to a place called the Maltings
which was at one time what the name implies. There were
concrete floors and stairs with iron pillars up through the
floor and as the toilets were outside we had buckets that
stood around that the men used at night. These buckets
were emptied every morning by the chaps. We all looked
forward to Friday night as we were paid and had to salute
for the magnificent sum of twenty one shillings. A small
amount was stopped by the army but for what reason I was
never sure and I allocated 5 shillings for my mother. So
after picking up about 11 shillings on pay night my wages
paid for a visit to the cinema, fish and chips and a couple of
pints in the town. After one night out in the town there was
nothing to do for the rest of the week.
The small town of Oswestry near to the barracks.
44
There was no entertainment, no radio or TV, no games
room and I know that I used to volunteer for peeling
vegetables in the kitchen quite often just for something to
do and also for the free mugs of tea that we were given
while doing it.
We had the wake up bugle call at about 6 am and then had
a few minutes to get shaved and dressed and if you were
very quick out of bed and rushed downstairs there was a
bucket of tea which we dibbed our mugs in. We usually did
a bit of square bashing first and then had breakfast. Then
we went on to a march or practiced with weapons. We
were each given our own rifle which we must never lose. I
was issued with a First World War Lee Enfield that was in
my opinion far superior to the mass produced model then
being turned out. The older model had a much better sight
that could be adjusted to allow for the drop of the bullet
when it was fired over a long distance. It probably does not
spring to mind to people who have never fired a rifle that
over a few hundred yards a bullet starts to drop so this has
to be allowed for. Also a strong wind will affect the
accuracy. The rifle I had also had a back sight which could
be adjusted for the longer range so that one could still sight
onto the target. The only guess work was in judging the
distance correctly.
There wasn’t a lot of spit and polish and not too much drill.
The emphasis seemed to be on training us for action, which
I suppose, made a lot of sense. The training continued in
much the same vein for months but probably got a bit more
45
strenuous but this did not bother me because I became very
fit after weeks of running about and exercise.
Shrewsbury Light Infantry.
Eventually we went to Margate on the south east coast. It
was 1944 and I was billeted in a small hotel about 50 yards
from the cliff. Most of the population had moved away and
hotels including some of the bigger, posher ones and the
smaller, bed and breakfast buildings were turned over to
the military. Not to get the wrong idea I hasten to add but
they had been stripped of their luxurious fittings and we
slept on floors with a blanket and used a duffel bag as a
pillow but the toilets and wash bowls were left intact of
course.
The town was almost devoid of any civilians and I should
explain that this was not just because youngsters had been
46
evacuated, but also the adults had, unless they were doing
jobs, which were important to the the town’s safety and
functioning. The idea of this was I suppose because towns
on the South Coast were in for the first line of a Nazi
attack.
Sometimes for entertainment we used to go to the cinema
and the funny thing was that if the air raid sounded you
were turned out and the cinema closed, but, if the shell
warning went you could stay and watch the film. The
Germans had very large guns which could easily fire over
the English channel and go about 20 miles inland.
When not needed for duties we had access to as much
ammunition as we wanted and often used to take a couple
of handfuls, go over to the cliff top, pick a target on the
beach and fire away as long as we wanted. All the accesses
to the beach were sealed off with barbed wire but we had a
sort of rope ladder which was kept rolled up on top of the
cliff. We could climb down the ladder and back up of
course.
I assume that the open air swimming pool built on the
beach had been there for many years. It was filled by the
tide when it came in twice a day. The 2 foot wide wall built
round it was quite wide enough to walk on and sloped
outward from the beach. The pool was very good for
swimmers like me because you could find your own depth.
I taught myself to swim in this pool while often being
completely alone on the beach. Before the war the pool had
2 lights on the end of the wall. These were removed
47
leaving two metal posts that we often used as targets when
amusing ourselves firing from the cliff top. They were
good targets because you could hear when the target had
been struck.
We did a lot of field exercises and training with various
weapons including the Sten and Tommy Gun. The Sten
Gun was a small mass produced weapon and was very
basic. It held about 25 rounds in a cartridge. The bullets
were a smaller calibre than our rifles but they were quite
lethal at close quarters. The Sten Gun was all metal
whereas the Tommy Gun was similar but better made and
had a wooden butt.
We went one day by road some miles away from our base
into the South Downs and arrived at a most desolate spot in
the hills. It was cold and wet with hail and sleet falling all
night. When we got out of the transport we were told to dig
dug outs in which we were to spend the night. Myself and a
pal dug a trench between us and cut a bit out at each end so
that we could sit. Somehow we managed to put a ground
sheet over the top. When morning came we found out that
we should have been on guard duty sometime during the
night, but, weren’t as nobody could find us. How we
managed to sleep at all sitting up to our knees in water was
a miracle, but, when you are really tired its possible to
sleep under almost any conditions.
One day about a couple of dozen of us soldiers were going
along the front by the cliffs when we noticed the estuary
was full of vessels including hospital ships going in both
48
directions. We soon found out the invasion had taken place
hence all the shipping traffic. I think it was the next day
when we were surprised to see an unusual aircraft flying
over the estuary towards London. It looked like a small
plane but you could tell it wasn’t and I can recall that the
Anti-Aircraft guns were firing from the gun ports which
were out across the water. I don’t know if these gun ports
were floating or were built on the seabed but I rather think
that they were fixed. It was not long after this that we were
taken by road to Brighton.
I almost forgot one rather funny thing that happened to me
while at Margate. One night we went out on foot following
the coast and I had been made a runner and given a bike.
Some time during the night I was given a message and told
to give it to Headquarters but the silly thing was instead of
going East I went West. After some hours of riding I turned
up at a town very similar to Margate and eventually found
a hotel that had been taken over by the army. I made
myself known and when what had happened was
understood, I was given a cup of tea and breakfast and sent
the right way back. That is the only time I ever visited
Ramsgate!
About the middle of June I was taken to Brighton which
was another fortified town that had most of the civilian
population removed. The sea-front and all the access to the
beach were fenced off with barbed wire and Pill Boxes or
machine gun posts. I can’t remember if we were under
canvas or billeted in one of the deserted hotels. We were
only there a very short time and the only thing that sticks
49
out in my mind is that the flying bombs came over quite
regularly heading towards the capital. I must say it was
nice to see them fly over us with their motors still running
and for them not to run out of fuel and hit us! I expect the
Nazis knew to a fine degree how much fuel they needed to
reach London.
We were entertained one day by Joe Loss who was a very
well known bandleader at this time. The concert was held
on some fancy estate in a natural amphitheatre where we
sat on the grass with the band performing in a dell. The
stage had an acoustic shell like cover that carried the sound
very well.
50
Arriving In Normandy.
We had a short stay in
Brighton and then we were
taken by road transport to a
small port called Peace
Haven and loaded into boats.
After a while at sea we
arrived on the Normandy
coast in what must have been
June 1944, which by then
was occupied by the British.
Some sort of landing stage
had been built so that we
were able to get ashore from the smaller vessels that were
used to ferry us to the beach. Even as we stood on deck out
at sea it was possible to smell the death as many men must
have been killed in the initial landings. It’s an indescribable
smell, a sort of sickly sweet odour. Dead cows and horses
were a common sight and they added to the stench. We
landed without getting wet and without anyone shooting at
us. I think a stretch of the coast some miles long and
perhaps about 15 miles inland was held at that time. Then
we were moved in wagons some way inland and camped
out near a small village. When we stopped we were
allowed to walk about but there was little to see as the area
was farmland. We were issued with a little money which
51
had been specially printed as invasion money. There was
nothing to spend our money on, only to buy milk or cider
from the farmhouses. Cider was brewed in a big way as
they grow large amounts of cider apples and brew it in vast
casks which hold dozens of gallons. Usually we were given
the cider and not charged for it.
Later we moved on to a place about 5 miles from Caen
which is a large town that was being held by the Germans.
While we camped there I saw a very impressive sight. It
was in the afternoon in daylight when several hundred
bombers came over in close formation and wheeled over
the city dropping bombs. The planes just turned over the
city, dropped the bombs and flew straight back to England.
It was all over in a few minutes. We were close enough to
hear the noise, to see clouds of dust and see the rubble
flying. Although the Ack-Ack fire was very concentrated
only one plane flew back with an engine smoking. This
event sticks out in my mind because these sort of raids
have never taken place in any conflict since. At the time
there was talk that there had been about 1,000 bombers in
certain raids. There was not that number in this attack but
several hundred planes at once is quite an impressive sight
anyway.
After a time we were taken further abroad to the front line
but before we left I saw another strange thing. It was in
broad daylight when a small spotter plane came flying over
very low and it looked as if it was attempting to land in a
large field by us. Situated with us was a “Bofors Gun”
which was a light fast anti-aircraft gun. This was belting
52
away at the time but missed and the plane and after
touching down in the field it got airborne again very
quickly. The Nazis at this time used a spotter plane called
the “Storch” and it was very much like our spotter which
was called the “Lysander”. So I never found out if it was a
German or British plane but you could understand the
confusion.
I came to the conclusion myself that it was one of ours or
else it would not have been trying to land. To continue we
were taken by road but not told any details and unloaded
just behind the front and then moved forward. We seemed
to quite suddenly come into position when I could hear
whistling and screaming of shells and mortars. I remember
somebody saying to one of the men, “What’s that?” as he
did not know the sound and he was told, “Shells and
Mortars.” We were advancing under this lot and believe me
it was very scary. There was a single track railway line
with a signal box which had a name on it that I can
remember to this day. We moved into a small village that
was just a pile of rubble and took over the German
53
trenches. We didn’t possess all of the village as we could
hear German voices during the night when it went a bit
quieter. This was where I saw my first dead body which
was an enemy soldier.
Next morning several hundred troops were lined up and
told that at a certain time we would advance across several
open fields behind a creeping barrage from our own guns. I
remember the post being delivered and our Canadian
officer had a bundle of letters which he said he would read
later. He did not have the chance because during our
excursion over the fields I saw him lying dead in a mortar
crater. Our Captain was also a casualty as I saw him lying
with a leg shot off. I know that he survived however
because I know someone who bumped into him a few years
later.
Not to be too graphic but to give anyone that hasn’t got any
experience of war what was like, it can only be described
as hell, when we had to keep going forwards with shells
and mortars filling the air with their screaming and seeing
dead bodies and worse still, bits of bodies and not knowing
when your turn was coming.
54
Some German Towns Suffered Heavy Damage As Well As
Allied Towns And Cities.
55
Eventually I was one of the lucky ones and arrived at the
objective where we again took over abandoned enemy
trenches. These were well stocked with looted goods
including useless stuff like women’s silk underwear and
the like. Also there were dozens of bottles of alcoholic
beverages including wine. I know we were filling our water
bottles with French wine and liqueurs, but, I for one in a
very short time was glad to tip it out and fill up with water.
The very next day at dawn I found I had some kind of
infection in my right hand, probably just a scratch that had
got infected or perhaps an insect bite but my hand was stiff
and swollen. After reporting sick I was taken to a field
hospital a few miles behind the lines and was quickly dealt
with. I was put out with a general anaesthetic and slept for
several hours which I must have needed because sleep is
very hard to get when you are on the front. In fact it can be
the hardest demand on your body and it is often possible to
literally go to sleep standing up. I was in the field hospital
a couple of days and was witness to a dog fight overhead
and like in a picture from a war film, saw several planes
come down in flames around us.
After recovering I was taken back to join my to join my
company who had been moved to a different location then.
We advanced through a wooded area and it was a very
scary situation to be in, because, as we advanced through
the trees, we were being bombarded with mortar and some
of them were bursting in the trees. This made it seem more
horrifying having them burst overhead than exploding on
the ground in open terrain. Nevertheless I managed to get
through this but all my mates did, not in fact a close pal of
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mine got shell shock, or went, “Bomb happy,” as we used
to say. This is not a pretty sight because this lad was lying
down raving, crying and thrashing his arms and legs like
someone having a fit. He begged me not to leave him but I
had to keep going. I never saw him again, so, I don’t know
if he got picked up by the medics or indeed what happened
to him at all. He would not have been shot like so many
were in the 1914 war. I saw another two of my pals go like
this and I could not help thinking what lucky chaps they
were to get away from the horror of the front line. It was
something that you could not pretend and most of us kept
going. Your mind seems to sort of go blank and you carry
on as if in a dream.
Eventually we came through the wood and dug in, on an
open field. In front of us was a large cornfield that was ripe
and should have been cut, but of course was not because of
the fighting. The trench which I helped to dig was not very
deep but was just enough to give protection by getting
down and thereby keeping our heads below ground level.
The greatest threat was from mortars. These were fired
electronically in groups of 6 or 7 and we could hear them
leave and then screaming down. As I say with your head
below ground level you were pretty safe unless of course
one landed in the trench. It was scary thinking that one
might blow you to bits any second. We noticed a burning
tank in the cornfield that was moving towards us slowly
first going one way and then the other but still heading
towards us. I had the idea of stopping it in its tracks by a
shot with the P.I A.T. which was being carried by the chap
in the trench with me. I said to try to hit it so he did. I don’t
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know how many shells he carried but as luck would have it
he hit the tank first shot. We were pleased to say the least
when we saw the tank come to a halt.
We did not change our position all night and at dawn the
next morning found that in the night a few Germans had
crept into the cornfield with a machine gun and were firing
at our positions. We were very relieved to see a Bren gun
carrier come along and start quartering the field. As they
got near to the gun 3 enemy soldiers jumped up with their
hands in the air and they were taken prisoners.
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A Serious Wound
We were bombarded all day and sometime around 5pm the
order came to move back. As I came to move out of the
trench I was hit with a mighty thump. Straight away I could
see my blood shooting above my head. I dropped to the
floor and my first thought was that my arm had been shot
off. There was a small group of chaps in a trench about 20
yards away and I shouted for help but they would not move
from cover. Instead they shouted back to me that I could
make it to them. I somehow got to my feet, staggered to
their trench and dropped in. Somebody put a bandage on
my arm and then came the news that as no stretcher bearers
were available all the wounded must make their own way. I
was bustled up out of the trench, got to my feet and
staggered off. I had to make my way through a wood and I
felt now and again as if I was going to pass out. I had the
thought that if I collapsed amongst the trees I would
probably lie there and not be found. It was this thought that
kept me going. I struggled through the trees and climbed
over a fence that was protecting the single track railway
line. I don’t know how I did it because I had lost pints of
blood and I also had a large gash in my hip. I suppose the
sense of preservation is very strong in the position that I
found myself in.
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After a few minutes I came to a large stream that I knew I
had to cross but when I had put my feet in the water I
found I had not got the strength to wade through it. At that
moment I saw a couple of chaps on the other bank and
shouted for help. Then I must have passed out and kept
doing so for the next couple of hours. I can’t remember
crossing the water but I assume that I must have got wet to
a degree. These guys helped me and I am sure that I would
not have survived without them. Although I didn’t get any
medical attention from them they managed to get me up the
steep wooded slope the other side of the stream which must
have taken many hours because it was dark before we got
to the top but I don’t really remember because as I said I
kept passing in and out of consciousness. When we got to
the top I was very cold as you can imagine what with my
wounds, loss of blood and the fact that I must have been
wet as well. One of the chaps found something like a
blanket or duvet and wrapped me in that. There was no
cover and I just lay in a field near to a hedge. I don’t
suppose I slept much but I must have spent most of the
night unconscious and as it got near to dawn I asked for a
cigarette. Just as we struck a match a plane flew overhead
and then we heard a stack of bombs coming down. My
companions jumped up and dived into a ditch a few yards
away. Although I was in a bad way I thought to myself,
follow them into the ditch, which I did and the only way to
achieve this was to roll over and over and then just drop in
to the ditch. There was no way that I could tell the time but
it was fully light when a vehicle came along and picked me
up. I reckon it must have been about 15 hours from the
time I had been hit to the time I was picked up. I had been
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hit on the eve of my 19th birthday so it was definitely one
birthday that I remembered!
I can only remember short periods of the things that
happened over the next few weeks. After being picked up I
was taken to a field hospital not far away which in fact
looked like a deserted farm house. I was unloaded from the
vehicle and as I was placed on a stretcher the enemy started
shelling the area. Everyone ran for cover and left me lying
there. At this time I was completely helpless so just waited.
After the raid I was taken into the building and laid out
where they started cutting my clothes off me. It was really
quite a long time later that I found out a piece of shrapnel
had gone through my left bicep and out through my elbow.
The shrapnel had gone through tendons, nerves and veins
which had caused all the blood loss. The wound on my hip
did not bleed but looked very nasty as flesh and muscle had
been sliced away.
I had no idea after this encounter with the medics what
happened then but I must have been taken to the coast after
being patched up as I next recall finding myself in a
hospital ship and later realising that the ship was lying off
Southampton I was having injections of morphine and
penicillin ever few hours. I can’t remember eating or
drinking but I must have had some form of liquid. My arm
was in plaster which was quite uncomfortable, but my hip
did not cause me much trouble. It was impossible to stitch
up my hip wound because of its position and nature so it
was just cleaned up and dressed. I can’t recall being taken
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off the boat but became aware at times that I was in
Southampton Hospital.
I don’t know how much time had passed since the day I
had been hit but I gradually became more aware and after a
week or ten days I was again loaded into an ambulance and
moved on. The person who shared the ambulance with me
was a young German so I take it that no distinction was
made for wounded men whether they were British or the
enemy. I was taken to Basingstoke which I think is about
30 miles or so north of Southampton. I spent a short while
there and eventually was loaded on to a hospital train.
Although I did not know where I was going at the time it
turned out that the destination was Aberdeen. It was quite a
long journey and I spent most of the time asleep as I was
still being dosed up with injections. Of course I was lying
down so that I was as comfortable as possible. On arrival at
Aberdeen I was taken to the Royal Infirmary. This was a
big modern hospital and of course we had our own wards
reserved for wounded soldiers and perhaps in a way we had
special treatment. We were allowed to smoke and had
access to books which I made use of as I began to feel
better.
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We had porridge for breakfast which was dished up in the
Scottish way, that is loaded with salt and the Scots add salt
like we add sugar. Most of the men were English and after
complaining we had a choice of salted and unsalted. I quite
liked some salt and used to have half and half and until
recently put salt in my oats when having them for
breakfast. Needless to say that the nurses came in for a lot
of ribbing as one can imagine with a ward full of young
men but it was all done in fun and was taken as such.
I was very glad when the plaster was taken from my arm as
it could be very sore. The weight seemed to pull down and
made things worse. I don’t really know what sort of
damage had been done to my elbow joint but the bone from
my elbow to my shoulder had been broken. After about 10
weeks when my plaster was taken off I was left unable to
straighten my arm. This after effect has remained to this
day and although I got full use of my fingers the muscle
never came back. It took a long time, perhaps a year, to get
the proper feeling in my fingers. It seems that it must take a
very long time for shattered nerves to mend.
One day I decided to get out of bed and as soon as I put my
feet on the floor I fell down flat. I had been lying down for
10 or 11 weeks and did not realise that ones muscles waste
away when not being used. Anyway I gradually got back
on my feet and we were issued with hospital blue which
comprised of a blue jacket and trousers, white shirt and red
tie. We were allowed to go to the town that was a short bus
ride away and we were never charged on the bus. We also
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got into the cinema for free. I can’t recall whether we were
given money but I think we must have been because we
could not get money from anywhere else.
About the first week in November I was taken with some
more chaps to a convalescent home some miles away in the
hills. This was a huge place, very old and was the home of
a Lord and Lady Grant. Lord Grant had been killed early in
the war and his widow was a real Lady in all respects with
no edge and quite easy to talk to. We had access to the
billiard room, a library and a grand piano. Whilst there we
had visit from the Queen who came and shook hands with
and spoke to everyone. That was of course the “Queen
Mother” who died not so long ago at the age of almost 100
years. The Lady of the house offered us the use of her
husbands salmon fishing tackle as the river Dee ran
through the grounds.
At this convalescence home we spent most of the time
indoors as the small village nearby had nothing really of
interest. One night as it got close to Xmas myself and two
mates decided to go to the pub. We took off one evening
and took one of the nurses with us as she was the only one
who knew the way. It was freezing hard and snow lay on
the ground as we walked across the fields to get to the pub.
It was nice and warm inside and as I was in Scotland I
decided to have a glass of whiskey. I think I had two
glasses and went into the cold toilet. It was as if I had been
sand bagged and I can only remember in snatches but I
think I must have been more unconscious than drunk.
Somehow my mates got a lift in a car that drove us back to
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the village near
the home. Then
they left me
lying
unconscious on
the back seat
and then went
off to a dance.
Considering the
temperature and
the fact that all
I wore was a
jacket
and
trousers,
no
warm coat or
anything
like
that and added
to the fact that I
was very weak
and run down,
it’s a wonder I
survived. Eventually they collected me and as we got to the
home the Matron was waiting at the door and gave us a
good going over and banned us from going out at all. The
girl who had gone with us disappeared and I don’t know if
she was sacked or moved on some place.
The three of us got together and told the Matron the next
day that we were not happy there and wished to be moved.
After a couple of days we were taken to another place
where we spent Xmas. We were done very proud with a
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party laid on for us and we had a lot of fun. There were
several snowfalls and it was quite wintry most of the time.
The second week in January 1945 I was told by the Doctor
that I was being discharged from the army which made me
quite happy as I had visions of being sent back and perhaps
going to the Far East as the war had not finished at that
time but was to go on for some months until it finally
finished later in the summer of that year. It was of course a
bit ridiculous for me to think I would be sent back into
action with the wounds that I had sustained.
67
Returning Home At Last.
I was rigged out with
clothes including a suit, the
first one I had ever
possessed, was then given
my ticket and taken to the
station at Aberdeen. I
travelled all night and
eventually finished up at
Lichfield town station about
breakfast time on Sunday
morning. I had 5 or 6 weeks
pay and my mum got an
allowance from the army
for my keep for that length
of time.
So at the age of 19 ½ years
old I had done my National Service, been in the war to end
all wars and been invalided out of the army due to serious
injuries sustained in the fighting. I was given a war pension
for my wounds which I still get today.
After 4 or 5 weeks I was offered a light duty job as a train
recorder in the signal box. I took the job offer up and
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eventually spent all my working life as a signalman but not
at Lichfield and that is another story.
If any youngsters
reads my childhood
account
and
my
teenage years I hope
they will notice how
different it was to
nowadays and if they
think they are hard
done to now, they
should
just
read
through it again and
think
themselves
lucky that they were
not born 80 years
ago.
When I eventually
met my wife to be
she told me a little of her experiences during the war and
she told me that she was evacuated from Birmingham with
her sister during the war and went to a school for a while in
south Wales where all the lessons were conducted in
Welsh. I don’t know how long they were there but after a
while their mother moved away from Birmingham and
managed to get a cottage between Lichfield and Tamworth
where it was very quiet. Even so a farm in the village had a
close call with a bomb which damaged some of the
buildings. My explanation of this was as stated earlier that
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some of the pilots had chickened out and hadn’t do their
bomb runs properly.
I got married in 1948 and tried to bring my children up to
appreciate the small things in life because one doesn’t need
loads of possessions to be happy.
So to conclude
my young life,
I’m
content
with how my
life turned out
and
my
experiences
probably made
a difference to
me and I hope
made me a
better
person
than I otherwise
may have been.
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