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TEENAGERS IN THE WAR

Mrs Ethel Gandolfi and Tony Gandolfi

Wandsworth and Battersea, South London

I., Ethel Gandolfi was 13 years old when the war started and we lived in Wandsworth. On September 3rd 1939 at 11.30 am, Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain announces that we are now at war with Germany. It came as a bit of a surprise though it was expected. My mother, father, sister and I looked at one another not knowing what to say. Within five minutes we heard the siren alarm sounding. “My God”, we said “it has started already”, but it was a false alarm.
Well, we got on with our lives. I was 13 years old, a year to go before I should have left school, but my school, Selby Road in Tooting, was closed because most children were going to be evacuated. My mother would not let me go until I was 14 years old so I kept house, cooking cleaning and ironing etc..
By now, things were getting worse with more air raids, and they were more often. Every night we were in our ‘Anderson’ shelter, armed with our gas masks and blankets. We hated it, damp, smelly and not a lot of sleep, but safer than being in the house..
When I was 15 years old, I was told we had to work at jobs that would help the war effort, so I found myself learning to be a machinist, making soldier’s uniforms at Fryer’s Ltd. in Battersea. Interrupted by the raids but we made the most of it, all doing our duty.
There I worked with a girl named Joan, who kept telling me that she had a nice brother at home. His name was Tony. He was an optical engineer, working on gun sights. Well, we met in a very unusual way. Because of the ‘blackout’ there was no lighting anywhere of course, so you couldn’t recognise people in the streets. Joan and I were going to the theatre one night and who do we meet but a couple of fellows — (what we could see of them). Well, guess what? Joan said “Oh, hello Tony, meet Ethel”. I said “hello”, couldn’t see his face but I liked the sound of his voice.
Joan was getting married soon and of course I got an invitation. Nice wedding, and after the reception we went back to her parent’s house. In came cheeky Tony, straight over to me and pulled me into his arms and gave me a passionate kiss. Well! By the end of the evening it was love at first sight.
We courted (as they called it in those days). Money was short and we saved for 2½ years. Parents couldn’t help and we did it ourselves. It was quite an austere wedding. Materials were very scarce so my Bridal gown was very plain and the bridesmaids’ dresses were all borrowed - they were all different colours and designs.
So our wedding day came — 20th April 1946. Although the war was over by then, things were still rationed for a while and the wedding reception table was not the feast we would have liked. Also, our honeymoon was quite low key- bed and breakfast in a cheap boarding house in Ramsgate, by the sea. But we were in love! It was fine. Our first home was a mews flat in Battersea.
Now I am 80 years old and Tony is 85. We will celebrate our 60th anniversary on April 20th 2006.

Tony Gandolfi’s story
My father was Italian and during the war he was not interned as he was regarded with great respect by the police. He was often called to the South Western Police station in Battersea to interpret if an Italian, who couldn’t speak much English, was being interrogated. When Italy came into the war, we were guarded by two policemen in our home from 6 to 11pm every evening for three months, but as our neighbours treated us with the greatest respect, this was discontinued.
I had two brothers in the Army, but I was exempt, as being an engineer I was involved in important war work, mainly range finders for the Navy and bomb sights for the Air Force. I was employed at Ross Optical works in Clapham Common — the firm no longer exists.
Two events happened to me during the war. The first one was during a raid when my younger brother and I were sheltering under the table and a bomb hit the house across the road. My brother dashed out and was saved by a wall, but as I followed, the front door blew in and I was blown over by the blast, which left me deaf in my left ear. The second and the most important event was meeting the most beautiful girl in the world who later became my lovely wife and whom I still love after sixty years of marriage.

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