Wartime memories

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day we have been collating some of the wartime memories of  our ladies and gentlemen and are pleased to share them here:

Anita

I was born in a small village near Crumlin. I remember the large soccer field where the soldiers set up camp, we used to love going down to see them because they always used to spoil the children. I remember the sirens going off, especially when you were in the town. They were deafening.

My father was one of about thirteen, so it was a fairly large family, the boys had to di the dugout in the garden and lining it with steel. When the sirens went off, we had to go in there, it had such an earthy smell, I hated it.

We were on rations and I remember one time my mother gave me a small section of the rations to go and get myself some sweets, it was only about 2oz. most of my school chums used to eat them all at once, I made mine last as long as I could, I wanted to savour them.

During the war my uncle had a sweet shop, he had those large jars full of sweets on the shelves, they always left a sugary sweet residue and a few crumbs, he always let me have those leftover bits, I used to tip it out and eat it like Sherbet.

The German planes were always flying over that way, they were looking for the armaments factory at Glas – Coed, I believe it still produces shells now, but you could always hear the drone of the planes going over the mountains.

I remember the village warden going around during the blackouts making sure everyone had turned their lights out, he then knocked on your door if you still had them on.

My uncle was a bachelor, and his rations were ridiculously small so my mother used to ask to have his so that we could combine them with ours so we could make bigger amounts and share it with him. A very regular supper was runner beans, we used to pick them, clean them and serve them with butter.

I remember in school we had bottles of milk and I was very upset when they had to stop, but this had to be rationed like everything else. Another memory was the gas masks, they smelled of rubber and we had to try them on.

Robert

I remember seeing lots of cars driving around with gas cylinders on, there was a shortage of petrol so people used to get what they could. The sirens used to go off frequently, as I lived in Sheffield. It is well known for being an industrial area and was often targeted by German bombers. It happened most days but there were only three major hits that did the most damage.

I remember walking to school and walking through the wreckages from the bombing the night before, we were always told not to go there, touch anything or bring home any shrapnel, just in case. It was quite a nerve-wracking time living in the city during the war.

The saying was “dig for victory”, all open areas had to be dug up for food and to plant vegetables and crops in. It was only several years after the war had finished that I had stopped being frightened of the sound of planes.

There was a big garden at the top of our road and we had a big bonfire on VE night. People had kept fireworks from before the war started and saved them for the celebrations of the war ending.

Jean

I remember having the sweet ration, I used to eat them all at once, I couldn’t bear to save them. I remember the doodlebugs flying over, I lived in St Alban’s and as soon as you stopped hearing the noise you had to run and take cover, very often it was too late by then. I didn’t get evacuated but there were very many around me who did, School was ok but I do remember having to go down to the shelters a lot and I hated wearing the gas masks.

Gladys

I was about eight years old when the war started

The biggest thing that affected me though was when the Americans came over. My sister Enid fell in love with an American soldier called Savoy Wilson. He was desperate to marry my sister, but my father refused. He was a lovely man, polite and intelligent man who had been to the University of California.

He and my sister had a baby, called Anne, together and she was brought up as a sister to me.

Savoy was deployed to Germany but was recalled and brought back with his commanding officer as he still wanted to marry my sister Enid. Again, my father said no and wouldn’t sign the paperwork. My mother stepped in and said that she would but unfortunately, she wasn’t able to convince my father. My mother never forgave him for that.

We had lots of bombing and raids in the area, especially in the Cwmbran/Pontypool area as it was very industrial. We didn’t have any shelters and my mother always made us hide under the stairs during the raids.

During the start of the war my father worked in the colliery but by the middle he went to work at the steelworks. My dad was too old to go to war, but if you think of the TV programme “Dads Army” that was what it was like. I remember he came home with an embroidered badge with the initials HG on it, which stood for Home Guard. My mother thought it was hilarious as she thought he was going to get a uniform. My mother got called up to work in a Royal Ordinance Factory (ROF) which made munitions and the girls who made them often ended up having yellow hands and they called then “Canaries” because of that..