November
1933, my date of birth, was far from the happiest
time to enter this world. The Depression was at
its peak and this was the year when Hitler took
over the absolute power in Germany. I still
remember a few episodes in the period running up
to war in 1939. The wireless (radio) was a
primary source of news, and of a good deal of
entertainment. Tommy Farr was beaten on points by
the brown bomber Joe Louis. Mr
Chamberlain waffled unconvincingly about
peace in our time, the very model of
the ineffectual liberal, while most people sensed
that war was on the way and knew it was not going
to be a romp in the park.
We lived directly
across the School fields. My brother had started
in Form 1 in January 1939 and I was to follow him
when my turn came, so I had an idea what to
expect. I entered the School in January
1942 carrying my new bag, my gas mask, and my
identity card. We went nowhere without the latter
two items- civil libertarians note. We were
subject to almost nightly bombing in that period
and everyone believed invasion was a real
possibility. Liverpool was taking a terrible
pounding and the BI works at Prescot was a target
so we also received quite a number of stray bombs
and land mines. We had a Morrison air raid
shelter in the house- a steel structure the shape
of a large dining table, while another type was
the Anderson shelter in the garden, or even a
brick with cement roofed structure.
On the PGS
playing fields immediately behind the house three
old blokes and a WW1 Lewis gun were all that
stood in the way of Hitlers paratroopers
who might land there. That statement is not quite
right. We had the Home Guard made up of the
old, those in reserved
occupations and so on, but I
dont think they actually had rifles at that
time. or if they did there was probably very
little ammunition. The other uniformed people
were the air raid wardens in their navy blue
uniforms whose task was to handle the
consequences of bomb damage, dig people out of
the ruins of their houses or whatever. Some
houses had a large white S stencilled
on the gatepost meaning there was a stirrup pump
there, or an L, meaning a ladder was
available. Large brick water tanks were
built on waste ground for the use of fire
fighters, and EWS -Emergency Water
Supply was a another common sight. All the
iron railings had been removed from the fronts of
houses and public buildings to aid in the war
effort.
Windows were
rendered more shatter proof by the simple
expedient of adding sticky paper strips in a
criss-cross diamond shape over the glass surface.
All windows had to be blacked out at
night so that no light was visible from the
street or presumably from above. Trams,
buses and motor vehicles all had metal covers
placed on their headlights to focus a weak light
on the road ahead, while reducing light seen from
the side, and particularly from above. It
should of course be remembered that there were
very few private cars on the roads, and petrol
was in very scarce supply and closely rationed.
Thus Doctors and those in some other
occupations were allowed limited petrol, but many
private cars remained off the road throughout the
war.
An impending air
raid was signalled by a loud siren which
basically meant get under cover and
preferably in a shelter, and there
was a further siren to signal the all
clear. In Prescot area most of the raids
took place at night, but when German air power
was still at its high point raids could occur in
day time. We did not experience too much in
the way of V1 and V2 rocket attacks late in the
war. For these reasons the PGS shelters were used
in a genuine emergency very rarely if at all
during the war.
For a few days an
almost intact Messerschmidt 109 was on display
outside the Prescot Town Hall on High Street part
of the process of drumming up morale and savings.
During the period of the blitz I had
a shrapnel collection- small pieces of bomb and
shell fragments, the left overs from last night
or last weeks uninvited guests. Masses of
short strips of silver paper were released by
plane over the countryside which we collected
(together with cigarette cards, train numbers and
names and a host of other hobbies and fads). We
heard that the silver paper strips (chaff) were
dropped by our side to test a simple
radar jamming device. Occasionally the biggest
prize might come your way, a small silk parachute
made to carry flares as they fell slowly to the
ground.
At PGS a number of
the masters had gone off to war and their places
were filled by older men or more usually by
younger women. To avoid confusion and possibly in
a vain attempt to fool the lascivious interests
of growing boys, we were instructed to call all
staff members Sir regardless of
gender. There were periodic air raid drills with
visits to the air raid shelters which stood at
the soccer pitch end of the School close to St
Helens Road. Across the short stone wall was an
entrance to Knowsley Park where army and airforce
personnel were camped.
PGS certainly played
its part. There are no names in this piece,
staff or boys since even a long list would leave
someone out who should be there. This was a
community effort. I recall very well hearing the
regular news announced by the Head at morning
Assembly concerning old boys who were missing or
killed in action or had received decorations for
valour.These came from all three services.Before
it was over the names included old boys who had
been in the School even during my stay and whose
names I knew from direct experience.I wish for a
moment that the thoughtless idiot who destroyed
the War Memorial could visualise the lives
celebrated there, or experience a little of what
they had experienced. They were boys just like us
from Prescot Grammar School.
Continued
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