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The Story of Agnes (Nessie) and Grimston Graham and their contribution to the War 1939 to 1945.

As remembered by John Graham, the second of three sons,

The place is Longtown, Cumbria. The last Town in England, 3 miles from Gretna, and 8 miles north of Carlisle.

Between Longtown and Gretna during the 1st world war, munitions were manufactured and stored, this continued during the 2nd world war.

My father worked for the railways LNER on the Carlisle to Edinburgh Waverley railway line through the Scottish Borders. His job was that of goods clerk and this included being responsible for getting the goods in and out of the munitions dump. This made his job was important and exempt from call up into the military. He never the less served in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard and patrolled the railway lines running through the town.

In addition to this we had 2 army camps, 4, 5 and an ATS camp, an RAF aerodrome, and an RAF training aerodrome surrounding the town.

As with many other people they where asked to make a home for evacuees, They came from Newcastle to get away from the air raids on the Tyneside shipbuilding yards. Over a couple of years we had a mother and small daughter, and after them an boy called Joe Osborne He stayed with us until he left and finally volunteered for the Royal Navy. Joe stayed in touch with my mother until her death in 1987. He told my mother in many letters that the years he stayed with us were the best in his life. He just became one of the family and was treated as a fourth son. He had an opportunity to become a boy and enjoyed the freedom of open countryside and a river, The River Esk, He enjoyed swimming in the river in hotter summer days as we all did with the soldiers and ATS, land army girls and Airmen. On those days the river was full and the banks of the river where covered with piles of clothes as we all took advantage of hot weather and a place to relax.

My parents operated an open house policy. This meant that at weekends we would have ATS girls Jean Hughes and Margaret Telfer in the house, and an airman called Cyril. Margaret would play our piano Cyril would play his violin, Jean and the rest of us would sing the popular tunes of the day. They where so enjoyable that my Grandfather would come from Carlisle and join in with his own violin and Melodeon.
It was my introduction to jazz and classical music and still enjoy to this day.

On one occasion there was a big dance at the army camp and Ivy Benson’s girls band played the gig, Two of the band members stayed at our home over night after the gig.

After Joe left, my parents made homes for many soldiers and their wives, until they were posted away, they came from all parts of the country Mr & Mrs Dale from Devon, Mr & Mrs Lewis from South Wales, Mr & Mrs Hycock from London and Mr & Mrs Meiklejohn and Daughter Ann from Alloa in Scotland. All kept in touch with our family. Christmas cards never failed to arrive each year. The youngest wives my Mother taught them to cook and sew make dresses, She got them involved with The Women’s Institute so they learned as did my Mother how to make jam, bottle the fruit in season for the winter vitamins, We picked nettles and handed them in to school, they were collected and taken to somewhere central for processing, we also picked rose hips and my father made them into rose hip syrup for vitamin c during the winter, a large spoonful each night.

My mother and her friends from the Women’s Institute found a very good use for gas masks, they used them when peeling onions and when taking the innards from rabbits and chickens, the masks prevented tears in their eyes and removed the unpleasant smell of the rabbits and chickens

The spare room in our house was kept fully used with soldiers knocking on the door asking if they could bring their wives for weekends, and as long as the room was not in use the answer was yes, I can hear my Mum and Dad saying what a terrible thing for husbands and wives to be separated. In the hotter weather we would then get knocks on the door and requests for jam jars as the pubs had run out of glasses and they needed jam jars to get a drink 2lb jars where favourite.

Life in the village was busy, the skies always had planes flying in them Tiger Moths for the men in training, Spitfires and Hurricanes being the most regular and towards the end of the war we had occasional Mosquitoes and Lockheed lightnings the twin hulled fighter plane. On the very odd occasion we would go to the site of a plane crash and as boys do, pick up pieces of the planes. Fortunately this was a very rare event. Other activities increase as training for D Day became routine, River crossings on light boats army exercises search and find in small patrols often included practice for the home guard. My Father spent a night up the tree outside his bedroom window fully equipped awaiting the ‘enemy’. In the morning when our pals got up and out we soon gave away all the hiding places to the ‘enemy’ who would more than likely be the fathers of our pals. Good fun for us but not in keeping with the serious nature of the exercise, best laid plans. One night on a home guard exercise he was patrolling along the railway line to the north, the briefing included the password for the night with instructions to challenge any suspected danger. The patrol heard an unusual noise coming out of the darkness, they made the challenge halt! Who goes there three times and with no reply a rifle shot was fired in the general direction of the noise. When daylight arrived they looked for the disturbance only to find they had shot a cow, the noise they heard was the cow coughing up its cud. A big report was made out the following day.

When the soldiers were training for river crossings, they used the golf course pond which was a very big expanse of water, they used rafts made out of oil drums, with decking, they would paddle across the pond and scramble up the banking just like the real thing. When they went back to camp it was our turn at least half a dozen of us would then play soldiers, copying the exercise we had just been watching. Just when we were getting really excited, the village policeman would appear and chase us away, this happened every time we played on the rafts, My brothers and I found out many years after the war that the local signalman could see us from his signal box and phone the police, He was a friend of my fathers and he was frightened that we might get into difficulties so he phoned the police. The policeman never caught us because it was a big pond and we could paddle the raft to the other side and get away. The problem with living in a small village is that the Policeman knew who we were and would talk to my father after work in the pub.

Many of the servicemen repaid the friendly reception they received in the village. Dusty Miller helped to run our scouts troop and would take us out camping over weekends in the corner of farmers fields, He would do this in his own time using up some of his leave to do it. They were great weekends the food always tasted of smoke from the fire but Dusty was our hero. Another soldier jumped into the river and saved the lives of our school pals. This really was a pay back for the good times they had in our village

Another story of our front room, it was used by a soldier called Tiny to look out of the window across the road were his girl friend Molly worked as a maid and when she finished work would come into our front room have tea and then go out courting. Tiny was killed in North Africa as we later learned of his fate.

As the war progressed and the troops started to leave for the invasion of Europe we had lorries transporting tanks and Bren gun carriers travelling in convoys passing daily through the village, When ever they stopped for a break the women would be out in the streets handing out cups of tea and home made food to the drivers, This was not an organised even it was just very spontaneous action of the villagers, it is now called the wartime spirit of comradeship that did exist. This carried over when after the war, Lorries carrying prefabricated houses in sections from somewhere in England to Scotland to rehouse people after the war. Many of the drivers stayed over for bed and breakfast on the journeys north and the return journeys south.

During the war my older brother Leslie was asked by the village post master if he would help to deliver telegrammes as there was a manpower shortage and the postman was getting old. I would help out as necessary and with so many servicemen and women in the various camps it was a very steady job after school and at the weekends all journeys being made on a bicycle, on occasions when my brother wanted company I would sit on the crossbar of the bike and we would sing all the war songs of the day.

The other memories of the war times were of Christmases having a log fire in the front room lit only by the flames and family and friends sitting around singing Christmas carols drinking home made ginger wine, and adults drinking my father’s home made elderberry wine. On Christmas day we always shared our Christmas dinner with the Railway lorry driver called Dan, because at that time he worked on Christmas day and he lived over the border in Scotland and could not get home until he was finished.

In this story I have tried to show how people all over the country made small but significant contributions to the war including my parents, I have also tried to show that children grew up and played as all children do given the chance in spite of the war. The servicemen helped to broaden the views of the people of Longtown some even married and return after the war. For some it would be a short but happy time before going to the battlefronts and dying. John F.Graham

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