World War II from My Gran's Memories

The Second World War from my Gran's point of view:

When war broke out in 1939, my Gran was six years old. During the war, children could go to school but they had to bring their gas masks in for their own safety and protection. Some had to be evacuated like my Grandad, who was from Glasgow- to the west coast of Scotland.

During the war, not all men were called up to fight. My Gran's dad didn't get called up because he worked high up in the electrical company, so he had to make sure houses had power but also needed power for the search lights and factories. So, this was classed as a key role job. The men could have also had jobs like fire watching in case a fire broke out after a bomb went off and people on plane look out - ARP - which meant shining search lights into the sky to watch out for German planes.

My Grandad, who was from Glasgow (which was a highly bombed area), had an air-raid shelter in his garden he could hide in when the air-raid sirens went off. When people didn't have air-raid shelters in their gardens, they would have gone under their stairs as it was the safest place inside the house.

My Gran's Auntie was a nurse during the war and was sent down to Liverpool from Carlisle to take in and care of the injured people from the air-raids in Liverpool and brought them up to Southport to get better. Liverpool was also a highly bombed area due to it being a shipping port. They could have nursed soldiers or members of the public.

During the war, everything was in complete blackout - no lights were allowed on in your home or on your car. During one air-raid, someone left a car light on and, when the Germans were on their way back from bombing Glasgow, they made a direct hit on the light. This happened in Gretna (15 miles away from where my Gran lived). This happened over Petteril River (Carlisle) which took away vital transport. When this bomb went off, my Gran's Mum told her that it was just the old man next door moving his furniture so that she didn't get scared. Most of the windows had tape over them so that they wouldn't shatter from the vibrations from the bomb explosion.

Everything during the war was rationed e.g. tins, sugar, meat, cheese, and everyday items including clothes and books. People swapped things with their neighbours. When you bought your shopping, you had to get a book signed/stamped - it was called a ration book. This was so that you couldn't overbuy, you could only buy your shopping once a week. This was the same as bedding - it was marked with a 'utility sign' on it to show what it's for so that people couldn't use it for the wrong reason such as using it for tablecloths and maybe even dresses.

My Gran's Uncles Laurie and Syd were called up to fight in the war out in Burma. They fought against the Japanese with the Chindits. Another member of her family was Uncle Albert who also fought against the Japanese and was captured and taken prisoner of war where he suffered terrible living conditions. When he came out, he never spoke about it.