The declaration of war being announced on the radio

I was seven when war was declared in September 1939. My father William Charles Monk was in London all through the War in the police. (I had an uncle who had quite interesting experiences. My father-in-law was in the Territorial Army before the war and then was called up, serving with the Hampshire Yeomanry through the War in an anti-aircraft battery. My brother-in-law, recently deceased, was conscripted into the Somerset Light Infantry and, fought in Burma in the Arakan offensive and I've got snippets about all of those.) My father comes from a village in Hampshire.

In our home in London (we lived in a flat over the police station in Clapham). There I remember witnessing the declaration of war being announced on the radio. My mother, and grandparents (my father's parents), and my aunts and uncle, were there. (Between them they ran some village shops like grocers.) I can remember the tension in the room, and tension gathering among the adults around the radio. The Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gave his speech about "We are now at war with Germany" and all that business. On the outside, it didn't really impact on me at the time, but I could clearly remember it.

My father's parents were George Henry and Helen Eliza Monk. My mother decided that I would be evacuated to Canada to live with an in-law who was in Toronto. And then the Germans sank the ship SS Athenia. So, she changed her mind, "Well he's going to take his chances with us here". And so I went with my Mum back down to Hampshire, and she stayed with me for a few weeks. And then with my father in London on his own, my mother decided her place was with him. And she went back. So, I was left with my grandparents and my aunt, and uncle, with whom I stayed the whole war. It was a wonderful time. I remember so much. Like the interaction between the village lads and those of us from away.

In my school in London we were made to sleep after lunch, camp beds and all that sort of thing (LCC). When I joined the village school it had one big room. Divided by folding partitions. With children from five to eleven spread out in three different groups. The oldest children, the 11 year olds, left the school and went on to a county secondary school at Whitchurch. I was lucky enough to pass a junior scholarship exam and my father was able to get me into his old school in Winchester. We travelled by bus to school and back every day.

My father was moved around London as he was promoted and so on. When I came back after the war my parents were living in Deptford and New Cross in Southeast London. Again we lived in the two floors of the police station.

Before the war in London, when you went in to town during the international crises you saw and you heard these chaps called sandwich-board men. "The end of the world is nigh!" etc. Of course, you heard things on the radio like the news about Chamberlain going to Munich. And you sort of got a feel for the tension that was building up.

When I was actually staying with my grandparents I did return to London for a visit after the worst of the blitzes was over. I went back home for a couple of holidays and Christmas time about 1942, I guess. That was quite interesting because I went up by train. My grandfather put me in the charge of the train guard! The train was full to the gunwales. The guard allowed me to sit in the guards' van with him. Well, you can imagine for a young kid. It was absolutely Heaven. I watched the guard, when we stopped at stations he would be dealing with packages and cases. Civilian trains were second string to anything of higher priority to get through but it ran pretty well for time because my father knew what time it was expected, so that he was on the platform waiting for me when I got there.