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I was living in Newport, Shropshire when war broke out. The first thing I remember is when I was called up of course, in September of 1940. It was late in the evening when I arrived at the base where I was to be stationed.

One of the first things they did was give me and the other chaps who were there, what they called a ‘palliasse’ it was a long sort of sock, and they took us through a heap of straw and you stuffed this thing full of straw and that was your bed for the night.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the ��ѿ��ý Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Herbert Lewis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Herbert's stories:

• ”All genuine tickets please”
• All sorts
• I had to sit on the front of the tank
• ’Kitted out for civilian life’
• Shropshire during the war
• My only night in a shelter
• Riding a horse up the steps
• It seemed a bit of a silly thing to have to do
• The first of the V1’s
• There was always plenty of cheese
• We weren’t told…

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