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Childhood Memories of World War II — Part 2

My brother became an officer and there was an occasion when we did not receive any news from him. We knew that his regiment had been posted to Egypt and then heard that it had been badly mauled in one of the Desert Campaigns. My parents were naturally very worried fearing the worst but after two months, a letter arrived from Northern Ireland stating that he had been in hospital all that time with blood poisoning caused by cutting his hands on barbed wire and he had been unable to write. Apart from going to Northern Ireland, he never left the shores of this country. He said later that he had been very lucky during the war as on more than one occasion, he had been transferred or posted to another unit just before the unit that he had been serving with went overseas. He eventually became the Adjutant at a Pre-OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit) stationed on Wrotham Hill, Kent. There he once entertained George VI at a training demonstration and on another occasion, witnessed a glider landing on their site at the time of Arnham, the soldiers on board thinking that they had landed in Holland!

We used to travel by the tube to Waterloo and then go by train to Kingston to visit an uncle and later go on to visit an aunt who lived in Hampton. Train windows had netting, similar to net curtains, glued to the window with a little circle cut out so that one could see where one was. I think that at night there were blinds that would be pulled down but I am not sure. I do remember window blinds on trains but it may have been a feature fitted after the war. How trains and tube trains coped with the blackout I have no idea. Coming through London at night, the Underground Station platforms were crowded with people sleeping on them. There were bunk-beds on the platforms and in the daytime, people would just leave their bedding etc. At night, there was little room for passengers between the edge of the platform and the sleeping families. Occasionally, we attended an event that was taking place in London, one of which was the Potato Pete Exhibition. Quite what that was all about, I can’t remember but it was probably extolling people to grow and eat more potatoes.

The public were encouraged to grow more food and gardens and parks were dug up for allotments. There was a very good rotational plan put out by the Ministry of Agriculture which grouped vegetables into three categories and showed how the groups should be planted in rotation each year. I know that my father thought a lot about this plan for he framed it and hung it up in the garage. Unfortunately, it has not survived. Because he kept rigidly to this plan, my father won prizes for his allotment.

At my father’s school, Wessex Gardens in Brent, between Hendon and Golders Green, a long air-raid shelter had been built in the playground. The roof of the shelter was protected by a substantial layer of soil, which my father turned into an allotment and used for instructing the senior boys in gardening. I might point out that in those days, no barrier was placed to prevent anyone falling off the roof!
We were subject to much propaganda and slogans. ‘Be like Dad, keep Mum!’, ‘Dig for Victory!’ ‘Careless talk costs lives’ and probably many more.

There were radio programmes, such as ‘Monday Night at 7 o’clock’, (later 8 o’clock), with Ronny Waldman’s Puzzle Corner and ITMA, (It’s That Man Again) with Tommy Handley and his humorous characters like Fumph, (a take off of a German Secret agent) and catch phrases as ‘After you Claude, no after you Cecil’, or ‘Don’t forget the Diver!’ and of course ‘Can I do you now sir?!’ All these helped to maintain the morale of the nation.

As I remember it, the war did quieten down after the Battle of Britain but due to the heavy merchant ship losses bringing in the supplies, severe food shortages became apparent. For clothing, one had to ‘make do and mend’. Details are a bit vague as I was only a child. I can remember the queues forming at the shops, especially if news got around that something that had been in short supply had reached the shops. If there was a queue, then people joined it regardless!

Just before D Day, the 6th June 1944, I saw continuous formations of aircraft towing gliders with their special markings flying over us. These were endless. I saw the same again just before Arnhem. With great excitement we listened to news bulletins about the Normandy landings. Then just one week later came the first of Hitler’s secret weapons, the V1 or Flying Bomb, or Doodle-Bug as it was contemptuously called.

I was now 13 years of age and whereas at the age of 9 and 10, I may have been excited with the war, at 13 I was much more aware and frankly, the Doodle-Bugs really frightened me. I heard plenty but never saw one in flight, I was always under the table or bedclothes or in the air-raid shelter. I heard the drone or uneven beat of an approaching Doodle-Bug and if it flew over the house, the ornaments on the side-board would rattle incessantly. Worse still, if the engine cut-out, one would hear the swoosh as it glided or fell to the ground and finally the explosion. Sometimes, one waited ages for that inevitable bang wondering where it was going to come from. Again, my father’s brother’s family stayed with us during part of this period as South Norwood, where they lived was termed ‘Doodle-Bug Alley’. The safest area to live was where we lived in North West London. I remember one night particularly, my cousin and I were in bed and one such flying bomb came over and the engine cut out when it must have been overhead. We got right under the bedclothes and heard the loud swoosh as it was coming down and then the bang. I saw the result next day cycling to school. At least two houses were demolished in neighbouring Mill Hill. I believe the occupants were killed. Edgware was particularly lucky for I don’t think any Doodle-Bug crashed there but Mill Hill had many hits. During the Doodle-Bug ‘season’, I never got to school on a Friday, as this was the day when continuous forays of the flying bomb occurred. Mind you, if the sirens sounded when I was cycling to school, I always turned for home, even when I was almost at the school gates!

Being wartime, seaside holidays were out. I used to spend my summer holiday staying with my aunt in Hampton. On at least two occasions, my parents came as well. One of these was when London Transport Trolley buses were offering 6d (2½p) evening tickets allowing unlimited travel on their trolleys. We could travel from Edgware to Hampton Hill on just two routes. Not bad for 6d (and my father asked whether there were any half price tickets for me!) The days would be spent going to Hampton Court, on bus rides to Kingston, the Wisley RHS Gardens and Box Hill, and once we went by boat on the Thames from Hampton Court to Windsor. During the summer of 1944 the Doodle-Bug raids were at their peak and in the south west of London, were much worse. There was one particularly bad day. We were near the Long Water at Hampton Court when a Doodle-Bug approached. It was overcast and there was no chance of seeing the flying bomb. It was at its loudest when its engine cut-out. We all dropped to the ground, face down with our hands over our ears and head. We heard it glide down and explode. We could see debris in the sky. It had come down in Hampton Hill just missing the railway line and demolishing at least one house. Before we arrived back at my aunt’s house, two more flying bombs had flown over and crashed in the area.

There was another evacuation phase and it could only have been at the commencement of the flying bombs. My father took a party of children up north, I think to Worksop in Nottinghamshire and a few days later, both my parents took children up to Stockport. My parents stayed the night at the home of a magician for I remember them telling me about it afterwards. The puzzle is, who looked after me whilst they were away? They would never have left me at home alone at night. This must have occurred at a weekend or during the school holidays otherwise I would remember going to school the next day. I can only think that my brother was home on leave but would he have been on leave so soon after D-Day? He was home on one occasion as he watched a Doodle-Bug fly over the house from our garden air-raid shelter whilst I was under the table indoors, our parents not being at home.

I had not seen the sea since August 1939 as civilians were not allowed in coastal areas unless they lived or worked there or could show good cause as to why they should visit the area. This would have definitely have been the case after Dunkirk. Probably, there were no restrictions at coasts not facing Europe. After D-Day, restrictions were lifted and we went to Brighton for the day in early September. This was the day after the first Rocket or V2 attack which hit I believe, Chiswick gas works. At Brighton, one could not get near the sea for the beach was protected by masses of barbed wire. Probably, the beach was still mined. The pier was closed and I am fairly certain that large sections were removed from all the seaside piers to thwart any invaders. This makes a mockery of a stupid, whimsical play I watched on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TV where people in wartime were bathing in the sea and sitting on the pier at Brighton! I always thought that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ were meticulous in getting their facts right! I have spotted other similar glaring errors in plays seen on TV. From Brighton, we caught a bus which took us to the cliffs at Peacehaven where we enjoyed the rest of the visit taking in the sea view on a lovely summer’s day.

There was no warning to herald a Rocket attack. One just heard a rumble as yet another one arrived. These attacks were quite frequent. The home of one of my school friends was damaged as a rocket came down nearby.

I went to Christ’s College, Finchley, a grammar school. We suffered because so many of the men staff had been called up and the school relied on temporary staff. Some were good, others were very poor. For one year, we had virtually no French lessons and another year, no geography. Paper economy was paramount. In our exercise books, we had to rule a couple of extra lines at the top of the page, another at the bottom and we had to write in the margins! This had a lasting effect on me, because at work, people always exclaimed that I wrote on both sides of the paper! Even today with my Family History hobby, I write on both sides!

The war ended in May 1945 and a couple of days were allowed for celebrations. I don't remember being involved with any myself except hanging out a string of Union Jacks. There was a little street bonfire when the war with Japan was over in August. Then there were fireworks displays.

The only damage our house suffered during the war were broken gutters caused by shrapnel and a cracked chimney breast.

Rationing did not end until about 1953. We even had bread and potato rationing introduced after the war and in 1947, after a hard winter and strikes, one could not use electricity in the home during the working hours.

One project that was terminated at the start of the war and was not restarted six years later was the Northern Line extension beyond Edgware. The line was intended to go as far as Bushy with stations at Brockley Hill and Elstree. A bridge had been partly built. Another extension that was abandoned was the continuation of the line from Mill Hill East, using the old LNER track to Mill Hill, The Hale, and then on to Edgware.

Only recently have I realised that there was one other war time observation that I do not see today, certainly not in this area and that is the Milky Way! Too much light pollution. Recently in New Zealand, I saw the Milky Way for the first time since the war years.

Writing this has brought back memories but as I stated at the beginning, I am vague as to when certain events occurred, particularly when my uncle’s family stayed with us and for how long. My father kept meticulous diaries but he destroyed them before he died.

Peter D Cleaver

May 2002
Revised November 2004

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