On This Day

[Maywalk]

On this day 79 years ago.

September 3rd 1939 was a lovely sunny Sunday morning and to me there seemed to be a hush over everything.
At 11am it came over the relay wireless that Mr Chamberlain had said we were now in a state of war with Germany.
I can still hear my mothers anguished voice saying " Oh sweet mother of mercy! My boys, my boys."
The hush from outside suddenly became a cacophony of voices. All the neighbours gathered on their doorsteps
talking about what would happen if old Hitler got to England.
I felt terrified in case I was sent back to the Sisters of Mercy home.
I was relieved when my mother said that Hitler or no bleeding Hitler she was still going hop-picking the next day and
taking her kids with her.

The A to Z of the Second World War

A is for the air raid warning telling everyone to scatter
B was for the blackout, showing light was a serious matter.
C stood for the courage of everyone who was involved
D was for the devastation this bloody war evolved.
E was the evacuee whose home the bombs did raze
F is for the firemen, their bravery beyond all praise.
G was for gasmasks we carried no matter where we trod
H stood for Hitler--a sadist-- who thought he was God
I was for the identity card to prove you were no spy
J was for the millions of Jews condemned by Hitler to die.
K was for the knitting to keep our fighting lads warm
L for the Land Army girls who worked so hard on the farm.
M is the music of Glen Miller and the songs of Vera Lynn
N stood for news of the war front and our next of kin.
O stood for the ocean where our ships were at the ready
P was for our pilots whose aim was straight and steady.
Q was for the queues that could reach a mile long
R for the ration book so that nothing could go wrong.
S was for the ‘Spitfire’ the winged hell cat of the skies
T is the troopship whose journey we could only surmise.
U was for the enemy U-boat intent upon its ploy
V was for our Victory bringing jubilation and joy.
W stands for the war, which I have come out of alive
X stood for the Xmas of nineteen forty five.
Y is for the years of constant struggle and pain
But Z is for the zest to start living once again.

copyright---Maisie Walker 2001--- all copyrights reserved.

[dita]

Can find words for then and the time I've just read,
but 2018 no words in my head.

[laurie53]

My earliest memory is having it drummed into me that if the church bell rang I was to take the big knife from the kitchen drawer and and hide under the stairs, and when a German came to try and cut him where he went to wee-wee.

I wasn't even two years old when the war started.

In 1942 when Churchill ordered the bells rung after el Alamein nobody bothered to tell a five year old that things had changed, and I spent two terrified hours in that cupboard until my sister found me.

Of course, compared with my contemporaries in Dachau and Au switch I didn't even know what terror meant.

[Maywalk]

My mother took in two German Jews during the war Laurie. They were brother and sister who had gone through hell both sexually and beaten before escaping to England. They loved my mother who looked after them and they called her Momma. Unfortunately they both died of TB which was rampart at that time.
I was only a youngster aged 11 then but still remember Karl and Yvetta.

[laurie53]

It was confusing for a youngster.

We had hundreds of German and Italian prisoners working on the land. We avoided the Germans but the Italians loved children and were always making us whistles of carving us little models.

We still had German prisoners working, perhaps as late as '47.

Far more Germans than Italians stayed and serried after the war.

As you say, TB was rife, and in my own local area every local family lost someone to TB, whereas they didn't lose somebody in the war.

[Maywalk]

Yes we too had quite a few Italian prisoners here Laurie and its surprising how many married English girls.
They were free to walk around the town with there big rings sewn on the backs of what used to look like a boiler suit and they used to flirt with the English girls, hence the marriages.
We did not have any Germans but we did have the American 82 Airborne Division.

[vannin]

My mother took in two German Jews during the war Laurie. They were brother and sister who had gone through hell both sexually and beaten before escaping to England. They loved my mother who looked after them and they called her Momma. Unfortunately they both died of TB which was rampart at that time.
I was only a youngster aged 11 then but still remember Karl and Yvetta.

My father died of TB age 32, in 1951. I was eight and he had suffered the illness for eight years. I was in and out of clinic check-ups for years as I had TB infection through constant contact.

[caroljoyce]

Maisie that is brilliant!

[vannin]

Maisie, the verses are fantastic, I think you posted this on one of the forums once before - it still blows me away!

I still have my identity card from 1945, two years old!!!, Not sure why I kept it and remain fascinated by the largest date stamp which says I passed through Immigration at Holyhead in March 1945. Or 'was admitted', I'll have to dig it out of the old documents now! So I am an immigrant.

[Maywalk]

Thanks Carol and Vannin. Yes you can see by the date Vannin that I wrote it some time ago.
I have seen NO mention of this important date anywhere and I just wanted to pay my respects to all those who died in that rotten war both here and worldwide.
SO many families were split up and SO many lost a loved one/s.

[Maywalk]

Thanks Carol and Vannin. Yes you can see by the date Vannin that I wrote it some time ago.
I have seen NO mention of this important date anywhere and I just wanted to pay my respects to all those who died in that rotten war both here and worldwide.
SO many families were split up and SO many lost a loved one/s.

[laurie53]

The difficulties of 1939 - 1945 will be in low profile until after Bexit!