Thread: The War Years
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Old 9th February 2019, 15:11
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John Rogers United States John Rogers is online now
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black with aircraft, that date was the 25th of September and the planes were on their way to bomb Filton Aircraft Factory. I also saw the German planes two days later moving in the same direction, this time we knew they were the enemy. We watched as the RAF fighters engaged the bombers and fighter escorts, for a kid of 10 it was quite a sight. As the attack progressed we were ushered of the street by air raid wardens including a smack around the ears for not following their orders fast enough.
I remember well the cold nights we spent in the Anderson Shelter, double layering of clothes to keep warm, (1 guess that was the start of the layer look). Taping over the window panes with tape in order to stop the glass from flying around in case of a bomb blast, covering the windows at night with a blanket to stop the light shinning out or a knock on your door from the warden. I remember the small stubby candles we would buy, they were called 8-hour candles and would last the night when you were huddled in the shelter, also the government said they could be used for heat if you placed the candle in the base of the clay flower pot (the saucer) and turned the pot upside down on top the candle it would warm the clay pot, all it did was to keep your hands warm when you placed them around the pot. Before leaving for the army my father covered the shelter with sand bags and put an old bed frame with springs in the shelter. Then there were the Blackouts, No street lamps to guide us; they were out for the duration.
We were given a button about an inch and a half in size, this button glowed in the dark and you wore it on your coat to stop people bumping into one another. Headlights on the cars and busses were painted black halfway to stop the light shinning into the sky at night. There was also posts Set up in various places in the village and they were painted a pale yellow, if mustard gas were dropped these yellow posts would turn green.
Who could forget the fitting for your gas mask, I see the little kids now, crying because they were scared to death of the ugly masks, and it got worse when they tried to put them on. Then there was the school lunch programs, another government idea, not a bad one, for at times it was the only good meal some of the kids got in those times, but one dessert they could of kept from me and that was the Semolina Pudding, I swear it was made out of sawdust and milk, you could of stuck wall paper up with it.

I cannot forget the school nurse who would make her rounds with that darn( Nit Comb) looking for those little animals in your head, then she would spoon feed you a large dollop of Cod-liver oil and malt to make sure you were not suffering from mal-nutrition.

Enough of the good times let me go back to the raids. The night they dropped the bomb on St. Bernard's school my mother and I was in the Savoy cinema watching a film,

Suddenly the film stops, we thought it had broken, a very common thing back with the old projectors. The lights came on and the manager walked on stage and reported to us that a air raid was in progress and if we wanted to remain seated we could or we could leave but he would not run the film until the all clear was sounded. As he finished speaking there was a large explosion the building shook and the exit doors blew open that was the cue my mother and I needed to get the heck out of there. We ran down the street as fast as our legs could carry us to our home and the shelter. While running home we stopped a couple of times and took shelter in the gutter or a wall when the noise of the bombs and the AckAck fire became fierce, a lot of steel was falling from the sky and we could see the German aircraft caught in the beams of the search lights. Next morning I found out the bomb had hit the playground of St Bernard’s school not 50 yards from the Cinema.
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