(apologies to Spike Milligan!)
War was declared in 1939, and although many children were sent to the country (evacuated) immediately – mainly those living in the East End of London - I continued to live with my parents and sister in Hampstead, London. I went to primary school there until, in 1943 at age 10, I took what would be the equivalent of the 11+ examinations today. This resulted in me being awarded a scholarship to Westminster City School, which as the name would suggest, was in the heart of London.
At
this time, things were getting a bit tense in London, and we were being hit
regularly by the German bombs, V1 Buzz-Bombs and later, the V2 Rockets.
My War Injury. Every night, my Mum and I would sleep on camp beds in the cupboard under the stairs. We had basic tea-making stuff and biscuits so we could survive if the house got hit. One night, a V2 rocket-bomb hit the library, quite close to our house, and demolished it. The explosion rocked our house, rather like a moderate earthquake would feel, I suppose. This caused a quart bottle * of milk to fall off the shelf where the tea-making stuff was kept and it hit me on the head, causing much pain and a minor cut! I never did get any compensation from the War Injuries Commission either!
*
Quart bottle: Large thick glass bottle holding 2 pints of milk –(approximately
one and a quarter litres), and very heavy, particularly if it lands on head!
Because
of the bombing in London (the Blitz), my new school had already moved out
of London to Exmouth, South Devon, and so it was that I was to become an……….
Evacuee.
My
Mum was given a list of what I needed to take with me HERE.
We packed all my stuff into an old cardboard suitcase and made sure that I
had my Identity Card, my Ration Book, my Clothing Coupons, my Gas Mask and
some writing paper and envelopes.
Identity
Card: Everybody carried one during the war years.
Ration Book: This was a book of coupons that allowed you to buy a limited amount of provisions that were in short supply, such as meat, eggs, butter, sugar, tea, coffee, soap, etc. An example of WEEKLY rations per person were: 3 pints milk, 55 grams Tea, 170 grams Butter, 225 grams Sugar, 225 grams Jam, 115 grams Bacon, 30 grams Cheese, 55 grams Cooking Fat and one old shilling’s worth (5p) of Meat.
Clothing
Coupons:
As the name would suggest, these were required to purchase any clothing, bedding,
towels, handkerchiefs or virtually anything made of cotton or wool (no synthetics
around in those days!).
Gas Mask: The British government believed
that some form of poison gas would be used on the civilian population
during the Second World War. It was
therefore decided to issue a gas mask to everyone living in Britain.
By 1940 the government had issued 38 million gas masks.
Adult gas masks were black whereas children had 'Mickey Mouse' masks with
red rubber pieces and bright eyepiece rims. There were also gas helmets for
babies into which mothers would have to pump air with a bellows. Air Raid
Wardens wore gas masks with a long hose and a speaking box, which was attached
to his belt. The tin canister at the end of the mask contained charcoal, which
soaked up poisons such as mustard gas.
The government recruited qualified chemists and formed them into local
Gas Identification Squads. To help them in their work the tops of Post Office
pillar-boxes were given a coating of gas detector paint. The government also
published leaflets that helped the public to identify the various types of
poisons that might be dropped by the Luftwaffe.
The government threatened to punish people not carrying gas masks. However,
a study at the beginning of the war suggested that only about 75 per cent
of people in London were obeying this rule. By the beginning of 1940 almost
no one bothered to carry his or her gasmask with them. The government now
announced that Air Raid Wardens would be carrying out monthly inspections
of gas masks. If a person was found to have lost the gas mask they were forced
to pay for its replacement.
That’s
mine in the cardboard box in the picture above.
The Baby’s GasMask.
Anyway,
I digress - Having checked we had packed everything, a brown parcel label
was filled out with my name and the railway station I was going to (Exmouth)
and tied to the lapel of my jacket.
My
Mum then took me on the bus to Paddington Station, where I was put on the
train with other children also being sent to the country. I cried a lot……..
The
train arrived at Exeter, where we had to get off to catch another train to
Exmouth. It was all very confusing
for a 10-year old who had never been away from home before, apart from Cub’s
Camp! However, most people were very
friendly and helpful and we eventually arrived, very tired, hungry, thirsty,
confused, missing my Mum, fed up, seriously hating Hitler for doing this to
me, at Exmouth station.
There we were met by some of the teachers from our new school, who ticked off our names from a big clipboard, and we then set off to our new “homes” for the “duration” (of the war).
I was “billeted” with a couple (whose name I have long
forgotten), but I could not settle down – in the house there were strong feelings
of resentment because they had been forced to take in this “poor unfortunate
boy from London”, which they didn’t really want to do. I’m sure there were many thousands of good
people who took in “evacuees” willingly” and made them feel very much at home,
but this couple wasn’t one of them.
I was very unhappy, very homesick for my Mum and cried a lot….
After a while, I was moved to another family's house, but things didn’t get much better and I became even more depressed.
However, the school itself was housed in a huge
mansion called “Hele” and some of the rooms had been converted to dormitories.
I was moved into one of these, and from then on things just got better. I
suppose it was just like going to boarding school. I loved it, and I didn’t cry any more.
I also fell hopelessly in love with the Headmaster’s daughter (she was about 21 at the time!), who, because I was still quite depressed from my experiences with being “billeted”, took me off to the pictures (cinema) one afternoon - just her and me – Wow, I was in heaven!
She eventually broke my heart by marrying the woodwork
teacher…
We stayed at "Hele" in Exmouth until the war ended in 1945 when the school moved back to it’s original buildings in London, and I went back to living at home with my parents.
However,
after my experiences, I never really settled down and later, at the age of
15, I ran away from home and spent some time working my way through France
to the port of Marseilles, in the hope of getting a ship to Australia.
When I was eventually caught by the authorities and brought back to
England, I decided that enough was enough and in March 1949, I took the King's
shilling and joined the Royal Navy.
But
that’s another story!