Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú

This story has been submitted by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk, on behalf of Frank Smith. The author has given his permission, and fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My war was divided into three segments -school for two years, railway for two years and Army for two years.

I lived some distance outside a village a few miles from Lincoln. We had no electricity, no gas, and no running water (a spring or well provided us with our water.) We did have pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, and an orchard full of fruit trees. So we were fairly self-sufficient.

1939 saw big changes to our lives, some villagers were missing or killed. There were air raids and visits to shelters across the school playing fields, and interrupted lessons. Lincoln school had a long tradition of being all-male, but with so many teachers called up we had our first lady teachers.

Evacuees were billeted in the village. They came from Leeds and with their teachers, had lessons in the village school. They had never been to the countryside before and learnt that milk came from cows and fresh vegetables were grown in gardens. They thought themselves tougher than us but soon found we could be as rough as they were.

Airfields were all around us. Waddington was near, Scampton and others not far away. We saw pilots struggle to get their plane off the ground with a full load of bombs. Sometimes we were in as much danger from our bombers crashing (especially when fully loaded) as from German bombers.

Searchlights and anti-aircraft guns were stationed in and around the village. In 1941 I joined the London and North Eastern Railway, a career which was to last more than forty years. In 1943 I was called up to the Army and after initial training, transferred to the Royal Engineers (movement control) at Longmoor in Hampshire. Visiting relatives in London I witnessed the devastation caused by bombing and sometimes was caught up in it. I saw the nightly ritual of people going to the Underground platforms to sleep. The look of fear on their faces told its own story. We experienced the V1 rockets (doodle bugs) listening for engine to stop, when it was time to take cover. Then there were powerful destructive V2 rockets.

In 1945 I was sent to India for more training in preparation for Operation ‘Zipper’ to retake South East Asia from the Japanese. Our ship was on the way to Malaya when the Atom bombs were dropped, but were told to continue with the operation. Contrary to expectations, when we landed the Japanese had surrendered. Eventually I was posted to Singapore where I saw Changi Gaol and Raffles Hotel-two extremes.

In 1947, on the way home by ship, (a journey lasting thirty three days) we passed through the Suez Canal. I took photographs of the statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps-later destroyed in the Suez War. Disembarking at Southampton I came home to build a new life, eight years after the War had started, in the sincere hope there would be no more Atom Bombs and that peace would prevail.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.