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WW2IK

When War was declared on Sunday 3 September 1939 my parents and I were living in a flat, the first floor of a house, which overlooked Boreham Road (then the A36) in Warminster, Wiltshire. It lay close to the junction with Imber Road. The large military camp, then recently constructed, for the Tank Corps lay about two kilometres on the way to the village of Imber.

I was six years of age on 11 September 1939 and remember some of the preparations for war. These included painting the lampposts with white horizontal bands, about a foot wide, from ground level to about five feet high. These were to enable road and pavement users to see the obstacles in the dark because once the War began all streetlights were switched off for the 'duration'. All road vehicles, even bicycles, had hooded lamps so that they would be difficult to see from the air and pocket torches for use out of doors had shields. In the flat we had blackout curtains so that no light could be seen from outside.

Gas masks were issued to all civilians and I had a leather cover for the gas mask box with a shoulder strap so that I could carry it to and from school. The school organised air raid shelter practices which entailed us going to a local cinema, The Palace. From the early twenty first century, it is hard to understand the logic of herding us all into a building that might have burned very well.

Evacuees came to Warminster from London soon after the outbreak of war and shared our school buildings. The numbers of these children declined rapidly and they ceased to be a separate group in the New Year of 1940.

The evacuation of Dunkirk in the summer of 1940 had its repercussions for us. The army set up a checkpoint at the Imber Road junction and all people in passing vehicles had to show their identity cards. In the streets for a few weeks we saw the unusual uniforms of French soldiers.

In the severe weather of the winter of 1939 —40 there were Canadian Scottish soldiers in the area. They arranged bagpipe band concerts and gave skating displays on the Lake in the Park.

We moved to a house in Imber Road in the summer of 1940 and soon after we had army officers billeted on us. The longest period one officer stayed was from 1941 until late 1942. He was Captain J. A. P. Jones M.C. of the Grenadier Guards. (He had been awarded the Military Cross for his part in delaying part of the German army on its approach to Dunkirk and this enabling his men to retreat to safety.) Whilst they were in Warminster his battalion were trained to become part of a tank brigade. The Grenadiers still put on their immaculate drill displays in parades in the town centre. They wore the usual battledress khaki uniforms except that their officers wore navy blue caps with gold lace and instead of cloth pips they retained the brass rank insignia. To keep their uniforms in good guards order and to make the bed officers all had batmen. One of them, from the Guards, showed me how to polish boots to gleam as their did.

Another officer billeted with us was a Roman Catholic Army Chaplain, Father MacNamee. His batman, Mr Hennessey, was his server at mass and drove him to visit units in the area. Father MacNamee taught me to play Fox and Geese and some other board games.

British soldiers left the town in mid 1942 and were replaced by Americans. First to arrive were black soldiers with white officers. These men were not as smart in marching as the British — in this we realised that they resembled most of the US army as we saw it. Black soldiers were almost all charming as far as we children were concerned. They had come to prepare barracks for the whites. Black soldiers were friendly and cheerful. For us children Americans were cheerful and generous — not just for chewing gum but for the sumptuous Christmas parties they gave to all children living in the town. At these we had oranges, bananas, quantities of sweets and chocolate and all the attention that men without their own children could lavish on us. Rationing of food had no meaning for them.

Bombing raids on Bristol and later Bath lead to the air raid sirens wailing. The raids took place at night and we could see the searchlights over Bristol and tiny star-like bursts of anti-aircraft gunfire. The raid on Bath occurred in 1942 and for a few days trains did not run because of damage to a bridge on the approach to Bath Spa station. We went to Bath on shopping expeditions occasionally and I remember seeing the demolished and baldy damaged houses on streets near Bath Spa station and seeing the ruins of the Church next to Marks and Spencer's shop. This church was not rebuilt and now forms part of the M&S store.

After one of the raids a German aircraft was chased by night fighters and its pilot decided to increase his speed by jettisoning his landmine load. This fell on a field outside Warminster and blew down a power line whist blast travelled along the valley and eventually hit shops facing the junction of Weymouth Street with Market Place. The chemist's shop lost its window. Blast in another direction hit a shepherd's cottage and broke the windows facing in the direction of the bomb. A ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard patrol decided to see if the shepherd, who lived alone, was all right. Two of the Guards found him still in bed asleep. They thought they should check to see whether he had any wounds because the ceiling plaster had fallen on him. When he woke he asked them what they had done to his home! It took a few minutes to persuade him that the German's had dropped a bomb nearby.

In 1944 the large numbers of American troops and the vast quantities of supplies visible all round Warminster made people talk of 'the Second Front' but nobody knew when this would be created in Western Europe. I remember the Red Ball express lorry convoys of large vehicles passing through the town on their way to the south coast areas — Weymouth, Southampton or Portsmouth. The drivers were always Black American soldiers. The convoys began soon after Easter and continued until the end of May.

My father was too old for the army call-up and so he joined the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard. He had fought in the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War and wore on his uniform the Service Medal (1914-1918) and the Victory Medal. At first he had a rifle but this was replaced by a Stengun when he rose to the rank of Corporal in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard. By this time he was commander of a detail who had a two-pounder antitank gun. All the gun crews went off on certain Sundays to fire the guns on Salisbury Plain. They usually placed an adapter into the breach so that the weapon fired 0.22 bullets at cardboard tanks! When the practice finished some of the spare ammunition was used to shoot rabbits — each man had one or two for the pot. This was a valuable addition to the food supplies because most food was strictly rationed.

In the weeks before D-Day in 1944 the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard were assigned the task of guarding important bridges. Those over or under the railway between Westbury and Salisbury (route between Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth) were the responsibility of the Wiltshire Regiment. This duty required all night vigilance and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guards all had day-time jobs so that this was a demanding time on them.

The evening before the landings in Normandy we watched gliders being towed in a southerly direction. The aircraft were painted with the United Nations blue and white stripes — there seemed to be little fear of German fighter attacks on this aerial armada. This stays in my mind because on the invasion day I was taken into the Bath eye hospital to have an operation to correct a squint: the nurses listened avidly to news bulletins because many had boy friends who were taking part in the battles.

Some children were passing Warminster railway station at the time of the landings in Normandy. American soldiers on a troop train emptied their pockets of British money — evidently they did not expect to return. The sadness of this did not strike the children.

Two tragic events occurred in our vicinity. One was the result of an exercise where live ammunition was used. An attacking aircraft came in and the guns jammed. The pilot turned his machine and as he approached again the guns fired and there were casualties, killed and wounded. Some of the injured were brought from Salisbury Plain to Warminster Hospital so although the press published nothing nearly everyone knew of the episode.

The other sadness arose when the Americans, before D Day had built a stockade (a military prison) in the former tank corps camp. A man escaped and the guards fired on him and killed him on a path leading to Copheap Lane. This happened on a Sunday and US military police sealed off the path but we could see the sheet laying on the pathway where the man had fallen. Again the press did not report this but the event made some of us realise that the Americans had ways different to us.

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