Very early WW2 years.

[Fouro]

Apart from some oldies on this site it appears not many members remember how these times throughout the countryside were dealt with. We even spoke to German and Italian Prisoners who were imprisoned in camps.

Fouro.

[j.sabourn]

One of the few times my father spoke to me about his war experiences Fouro was when I was at sea myself and the only thing he had in common as regards the sea was before he was sent to the far east. He was delegated to be part of an Exchange group of POWs with the Germans via a hospital ship in the Baltic. His remarks were that the Germans being returned to the Fatherland were in poorer condition than the British being returned to the Motherland , probably because of the British food rationing. Also they were stopped by a German U- Boat in the Skaggerack who demanded 2 escapees from a camp who the crew were hiding, they had no choice but to hand back as were not in the agreement. JS.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Fouro/
I was seven when the war started and as far as I.m concerned all the population of Germany except the Jewish people where behind Hitler; it wasn't that long since they had been humiliated in the first war and stripped of their so called empire, they weren't marched at the end of a bayonet to attend the rallies, so lets not make the Germans of the Hitler times innocents, the only opposition to Hitler in Germany was the Communist Party and most of them ended up in the gas chambers. I for some reason was an avid reader of any war news throughout the war, our little village had around 7 blokes in the MN including my brother, one being torpedoed; I think it was three or four times, a young bloke three doors away was killed in a Hurricane he was 19, we had a bloke two doors away who was on the Burma railway. To me to this day the German people of those times deserved all that happened to them. As for our new friends the Japs a few more A bombs wouldn't have gone astray. Untrustworthy to this day.
Des Lest We Forget

[j.sabourn]

Apart from the Jews there were the Gypsy’s and the Freemasons also destined for the Gas Chambers. The shining light for a perfect being had to be of Aryan descent , like the Persians who are today known as Iranians. Who still believe in the Hitler Doctrines. There were very few innocent civilians in Germany the same as the UK. Everyone is cast in the same mould with any war between nations. JS

Des #3 .. Re Japanese .. with the exception of Sadjico my first Japanese girlfriend and Cappys boy/girlfriend whatsitsname ? JS

[Fouro]

Every young male born in the UK wasn't a free person because the gov't had you under their beedy eyes until you were 18 years old. As soon as you became that age you were then called up to serve in the Armed Forces whether there was wars on or not.

Fouro.

[John F Collier]

My earliest memory of the war was that after a bombing raid when the "All clear had been sounded, mum would take us kids around to nans house to check she
was ok, mums dad had died and nan was alone, on such a visit I remember seeing men with a dog digging in the rubble of a bombed house
looking for trapped people, it wasn't long after that when our house was bombed as well, we were caught in the blast of a flying bomb, doodlebug, buzz bomb
call what you will but it still had the same devastating effect when it hit he ground. cheers.

[j.sabourn]

I still have vivid memories of getting across London by the underground system mainly to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital every month for some time during the era mainly of the V1 period , from Kingston on Thames. I had a walking plaster on my left foot for some time for correction for a misgrown bone in the foot. This had to be renewed at regular periods and replaced . Falling out of bed one night the household thought they had received a direct hit by a proverbial rocket. Transport when not in the tube system was getting a piggyback by my mother when dodging from one station to the next above ground. JS

[j.sabourn]

#7 That’s 82 years ago , how’s that for memory ? On the other hand cant remember what happened last week . JS.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
My memory is very strong about the war but not as good about my sea time. I threw away my log book of the ports I visited , my wife gives me a slap every now and again over being so stupid to do that. The worst time was learning about the death of my Aunt and two little girl cousins in the bombing of Swansea, then the bombing of our village, two of the people who where badly injured were Britain's ballroom champions, but glad to say they recovered enough to run the local dance hall after the war, where I learned to dance, it enabled me to pick up some very nice dates in Aus later on, so maybe I should thank those Germans Airmen for that.
Cheers DEs

[happy daze john in oz]

Do not recall much about it being born in the middle.
But stories from mum and the family makes me understand that at times I was lucky to still b ehere.