Memories of the War - Walter Feltham, First Aider

Walter Feltam's Reminiscences of the Coventry Blitzes of October/November 1940 which were written down and passed onto the contributor by Walter's daughter:

I joined the St. John's Ambulance, Alfred Herbert Division, in 1938. The reason was that I was interested in First Aid and I worked at Alfred Herbert Ltd. There were no thoughts of war on my mind at this time. When war broke out I persuaded my wife to take my 4-year-old daughter away. They only stayed away for about 3 weeks.

All through the 1939 winter and the next year, it was one long training session. We had frequent air raid warnings. Most of the Brigade were working from 8 am to 8 pm and doing 3 nights of ARP duties, so we would leave home one day at 7.30 am and get back the next day at 8.30 pm.

During this time I dug two places for Anderson Shelters in the garden and fixed the mud. Four families shared them - about 12 people. An amusing thing during this time was that a cousin of my wife brought her son from Buxton to stay. She thought that getting work in Coventry would eventually keep him out of the forces, but after the first air raid was reported she came rushing down to take him home.

When the alerts got more frequent I linked up to the ARP at Stoke School. it was with them that I had my first real casualties. This was in the October raids [21st October]. A bomb was dropped in Hastings Road and three people were trapped. Four of us moved the rubble and were able to get them out alive. I still think that one of them was the heaviest person I have ever lifted. In the same raid, a bomb was dropped on an ice cream shop in Clay Lane and an unexploded bomb was reported outside the Hastings tavern opposite. The bomb that went off trapped 3-4 people - one was an air raid warden, one a special policeman and 1-2 civilians. When we got them out, the civilians were dead and I think the ARW died at the hospital. The policeman William Matson Sinclair was rescued last of all and taken away in an ambulance (I believe dead) and got a George Cross for this incident. The sad thing about it was I knew the uncle of one of the dead men and when I went to work the next day he knew nothing about it and so I had to tell him.

An amusing thing was that during our training we had been told to lay down if we heard anything dropping. During the rescue, one dropped and we all lay down, that is all but one police inspector who took to his heels down the road. The rest of us had some quiet laughs about it. After this raid, my wife decided to go to Buxton to get away from it all. She took my daughter and a friend's wife and son to stay with relatives.

The other raids in October and November were scattered but very disturbing. There was a growing tendency amongst the personnel to accept casualties and amongst my group, there were no personal injuries or loss of relatives. It was very trying to be on duty and hear rumours that bombs had been dropped in the districts where we had relatives and this, at times, brought a lot of stress and nervousness amongst us.

We had now started work at 6 am till 3 pm and were doing night duties as well but the firm did supply sleeping bags and blankets. Thus we were able to snatch some sleep.

One incident that sticks in my mind was on going to work one morning after a raid, two of us were cycling down Eld Road. We saw a house with the curtains in the downstairs front room ablaze. We went into the house and pulled down the curtains, threw them outside and put out the fire. We then started to look for casualties and in the next room were two men and a woman sitting around a table drinking tea. They all seemed dazed and tired. We told them what we had done and all they said was "Would you like a cup of tea". We heard afterwards that a large number of incendiaries had fallen around them and they had been busy putting them out. This incident stuck because it showed me that folks were not interested in material things. They were alive and to them, that was all that mattered.

Another incident that sticks in my mind after one raid happened as I was going back home from duty at Stoke School. I saw a trail of blood leading into a brick shelter. A dead man lay inside with no one else there. I assumed he had bled to death. I met a warden and reported it to him. He said he would get in touch with the ambulance. I just walked home and went to sleep. After writing this I feel now that I failed in my duty and must have been really heartless.

I had been on duty at Herbert's the night before the 14th and had been at work from 6 am to 3 pm. I had gone home after calling the Co-op for my rations and cigarettes. My friend, whose wife was at Buxton with my wife, was staying with me. We had a meal and were planning to go to Buxton at the weekend to take them some money. The sirens went and then came a load of firebombs. We helped the neighbours into the shelters and covered one or two bombs with soil. A house about 4 doors away caught fire so we went to see if everybody was alright. They were down a shelter. Bombs were dropping all over the town and fires breaking out everywhere. I went to report at Stoke School. Flak was falling on the roofs as I went up Goring Road. Halfway up I saw a lady coming out of a brick shelter so I went across and in the shelter was an old man who had been slightly burned. I dressed the burn but he was very shocked. The lady said there was a flask of tea on the kitchen table and she was going to get it. I went. They wanted to get the man to the hospital but I told them it was impossible and to take him in the morning.

Rumours had got around at the headquarters that the Cathedral spire had been blown down and that was the talking point for most of the time. We didn't have any serious injuries to deal with. Rumours of unexploded bombs all over the district were reported but these were more or less ignored.

Looking back I think that morale was extremely high but rumours were going about of different places being blown down. One of the most sad affairs, when it was light, was the number of people, especially women, who were wandering about, some only partially dressed, looking for friends or somewhere to rest. My house was damaged slightly. Albert and I took one lady in and gave her tea and a warm [?] by the fire. We then decided to go looking for our relatives.

We passed Barras Heath when we saw a land mine. A warden nearby said men of the district had moved it off the road and it had been reported. We saw Albert's mother and father. They were alright but the house was badly damaged. On to Herbert's where we were told there would be no wages payout. On to Albert's house where there was little damage and then to my wife's parents' house which was badly damaged. Both parents and her brother were ok but badly shocked. They had arranged a lift up to Tideswell in Derbyshire. I then went to one of my sisters. Their house was practically right down but enquiries proved that she and her husband were able to get to another sister in the Stoke district. I don't remember eating that day at all.

After so much cycling we decided to go up to Buxton as arranged by our wives with the news of their families. We went to the town centre to see the damage and saw the spire still standing. We cycled to Corley Church and went in for a rest. This would be about 5 pm. The church was full of people and more kept coming having walked from Coventry. I dealt with one or two people suffering from shock. One lady in particular started screaming as soon as the sirens went. After a while, we managed to settle her down but all the time there were some who were in need of attention. This was the third night without sleep and so about 5 am we decided to cycle on to Tamworth. The enemy planes were still overhead and seemed to be encircling the cooling towers of the Tam Hall power station. We got to Tamworth railway station and saw the staff who told us we could go on a newspaper train to Derby and pay there. Then the first thing they told us was to go into the porter's room and get a cup of tea (were we pleased!). All of them wanted to know if the spires were still standing. When we got to Derby we went to the station master's office and the first he asked us was if the spires were still standing, but he did get us a sandwich. So on to Buxton with all the news but I think that most of the people we spoke to that day were still concerned about the spires. We returned to Tamworth on Sunday and cycled back to Coventry.

Back to work and duties on Monday, to hear and see tragedy and hardships but a very united people who were going to carry on producing the materials to win.