Stories of the War and Home Front

Alfred Leach was enlisted. The contributor's family home had a cellar which they used during bombing raids. Lived in Cheltenham with mum and brother and lived there during the bombing. Contributor's mother worked in a factory, she was in charge of toilets. Father didn't talk much about the war because of how horrific it was and he didn't want to revive it. Didn't say in contact with people he had served with. His father was demobbed in 1945. Contributor was resentful after his dad came back home, that he was being told off by his father etc, he wasn't used to an older male in the house. Rationing went on and on. Accepted that life was back after the war. Remembered having to carry gas masks to school. Father felt that it had been his duty and looked back on it as something that had to be done. His father managed to avoid going to Burma.