Today, BBC News remembers the
shelter ordinary people used during the bombing
of London. War is a terrible thing, which I won't talk about. At the time,
I lived safe and free in South Australia.
February 25, 1940: With the Second World War in full flow on this
day in 1940, the Anderson air raid shelter was make public across Britain to
protect civilians from the constant bombing. Constructed from corrugated iron
and covered with earth, the first 'Andersons' appeared in Islington, North
London. Two-point-five million shelters were used in Britain during the
conflict. Click here to see old Pathe wartime footage about the shelter.
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| bearseverywhere.com |
My husband lived with his mother in
Inslington during this time while his father was away fighting. At about four
years old, with a younger brother, he was sent away to live with strangers like
all the other children in London. At the assembly point, they wore name tickets
pinned to their shirts or around their necks like Paddington Bear.
However, little B didn't meet a
good fete. His host family often locked them in a cupboard for hours when they
were naughty. He still has nightmares about being confined in a dark space.
His mother took them back to
London, where they survived despite close buildings vanishing into rubble
overnight. He tells me stories of playing on bomb sites. On one occasion, he
and his friends took turns to slide down an unexploded bomb until a warden
found them and sent them away.
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| bombsite.org |
Little B didn't live in a house
with a garden big enough for an Anderson shelter. The family rented one floor
of a large converted Victorian building. They used the underground train
stations during air raids. When the siren wailed everyone would gather supplies
and head for their closest entrance. Little B spent a lot of time underground—often
sleeping there. Sometimes, his mother would rush outside and return with food—at
great risk to herself.
Big B is a self-reliant man who
takes care of me, shops, cleans, plans the meals and cooks without complaint. I
put that down to his survival skills. He's still strong, fit and filled with
enthusiasm after living for 74 years.
I don't know if Life's tests make us stronger. But they do give us new perspective. And often, if it's a test...failure is too high a price to pay.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, there's nothing like pain to assist with the learning process.
DeleteAbsolutely. I'll admit to a very comfortable middle class American childhood, slightly spoiled,etc. I admit to being unsure if I could handle a war situation,etc. I don't know that I've been tested when it comes to survival basics. I'm not oblivious to that fact, so maybe I would step up. Food for thought.
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DeleteNobody really KNOWS how they'd react to a certain situation, although we might like to think we would do well.
DeleteSometimes they do. I'm glad his mother got him out of that house.
ReplyDeleteI think we always grow after a hard lesson. If you burn your hand, you pull it back and never repeat the excercise. Yes, his mother saved him from the house. Then he took his chances every night among falling bombs.
DeleteHe sounds like an amazing man. A real man. Thanks for sharing this. I didn't know that children were sent to live with strangers during the war. I do believe that tests make us stronger - if we are positive and faithful.
ReplyDeleteHe's basically a good man. And yes, all the children in London were evacuated during the war. It must have been such trauma for them and their parents.
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