Arthur Scott recalls wartime memories in Letchworth 1939/45
The day war broke out that sunny September 3 rd 1939 I was on holiday at my Aunt's place at Reading, Berkshire. Funnily enough I was playing with evacuees in a nearby park when at 11am when Neville Chamberlain announced on the radio that "we were in a state of war with Germany." My Aunt told me the news when I got back. As I was only 10 years old at the time, I did not, of course, realise the significance.
Back in Letchworth, as in the rest of the country, the impact of the war was limited at first. The most significant event for me was that the schools did not reopen on schedule after the summer break, as evacuees (in Letchworth's case, from Bexhill) had to be integrated into the system. After two weeks we attended for a half day Monday to Friday, the other half the evacuees attended. Eventually we went back to full time. Gradually the town adapted to war. The blackout was enforced and ingenious frameworks were devised to cover windows at night. Local factories geared up to wartime production and as the young men left to join the Forces, women were directed into essential jobs. My two elder sisters left their jobs as shop assistants to join Shelvoke & Drewry to help produce military vehicles.
As the "phoney war" ended and the retreat from France accelerated the effects at home became more apparent. Foodstuffs that weren't rationed became increasingly in short supply. Queues formed outside shops that received oranges (reserved for children) and even pigs trotters. I remember queuing at the "Bacon Factory" shop in Leys Avenue for these. Cigarettes were short and smokers tried any available brand, even scented types. Thacker's tobacconists had queues! Volunteers were required for the "Local Defence Volunteers" (later the Home Guard) and the only uniform was an armband. My brother became a Home Guard and drilled in the division commanded by Colonel Gavin Jones.
One night a German bomber dropped a stick of bombs in a field by the side of the Kryn & Lahy factory, which, at the time was busy producing military hardware. Us schoolboys went to look at the craters in the hope of finding pieces of shrapnel (I wonder what happened to mine!)
During 1941 & 1942 there were campaigns in the town aimed at raising funds for purchasing a Wellington bomber and a "Spitfire" fighter plane. The amount raised was shown weekly on a big "thermometer" fixed on the Midland Bank building (now HSBC) at the top of Leys Avenue.
Everyone carried gas masks even schoolchildren. I remember a practice we had at school and getting told off for producing strange noises as my breath was expelled.
Communal Air Raid shelters were provided in the shopping centre. The main one where the Arena car park is now. I happened to be in the town when the warning siren sounded. An officious Air Raid Warden ordered me into the shelter, much to my disgust, as I wanted to see enemy planes going over and any action.
In the last year of the war "doodle bugs" or V1 flying bombs were launched, principally at London, but occasionally these flew over Letchworth. I remember hearing the engine cut out of these at times and waiting for the sound of the explosion. The V2 rockets launched were faster than sound. Only once, do I remember experiencing the eerie sound of the explosion, before hearing the sound of the rocket travelling!
September 1944 came a partial lifting of the blackout as the Allies advanced into Germany. For the first time in five years the street lamps in Letchworth were dimly seen (some of them still gas lit).
When Victory in Europe (VE Day) came on May 6 th 1945 my memory is of the news coming through late at night. People came out into the street. I was living then in Ridge Avenue, now aged 16. I had been employed for two years at Sigma Instrument Co., as an apprentice and helped to make measuring equipment for munitions. That night the fire engine came round ringing its bell and we all clambered on. The next day was a public holiday. The war in Europe was over.
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