A Dorset Family's Memories

Memory 1
One night, a landmine landed near the Old Wareham Road near where I lived. My mother, sister and I lived alone as my father was in the services, but my fathers good friend who was also our neighbour acted as the father figure. On this night the man rushed in to the house to warn us and check we were safe. In his house there had been a large kettle sat on the table. The blast from the landmine had caused the roof to fall in in certain places. This particular teapot was left with a missing handle and a spout, both parts chopped by the blast. Even in this time of panic, I failed to notice that my fathers good friend, in his haste, was unfortunately wearing his trousers back to front.

Memory 2
My father and grandfather had built us an air raid shelter in the garden deep under the ground. It was made from solid metal which along with it being at night and under the ground made it extremly cold. My grandfather made a small instrument that when lit and placed at the top of the steps leading down to the shelter, produced a small amount of heat inside it in the case of an air raid. For months I had begged my grandfather to allow me to light it but to no prevail. However, one day, on my request he gave me permission to do so. Now being the smart boy that I was, I stupidly placed the lit brasier right in the entrance to the shelter, therefore in my opinion giving it more heat. Little did I know that if the air raid siren had gone off, the shelter would have filled with smoke and fumes.

Memory 3

When I was a boy one thing I really missed was being unable to buy sweets. So early one morning I crept down stairs to the cupboard and took three cubes of jelly from the packet and rolled it in sugar. When I arrived at school with it in a paper bag in my hand, all the rest of the boys were very jealous and for the rest of the day I was the most popular boy in the class. That tea time my mother couldn't understand why her jelly would'nt set.

Memory 4

I was a bus conductor in the war when I was in my twenties and was on my normal route to Bournemouth. When we stopped at a stop half way to Bournemouth the man that mounted brought the news that a lot of Bournemouth had been bombed. Many American and Canadian soldiers eating and drinking in the pubs were killed and a lot of hotels and shops were destroyed. My young daughter was staying with my mother and when they heard of the bombing they were very worried about me. They were very relieved to see me return home from work that day. This brought home to me the effects of war and how lucky the women were at home in relative safety.

Memory 5

I lived near Organford during the war when I was about 12 years old. One night a bomb dropped not 100 yards away from our house. We were unaware of what had really happened. , except when a group of soldiers came rushing over to the house, to check we were alright. We still didn't realise the extent of the damage until the morning, when we saw the huge crater caused by the bomb. It was very frightening just how close to home it was.

Memory 6

I was in the Royal Engineers during the war as was my brother. However we asked not to be in the same regiment having known too many lose family members in front of their eyes. It happened when I was in the desert where in the shade we were in temperatures of 120 f. It was in a particularly bad sand storm where I can remember hald of my body being completely covered in sand. Suddenly another engineer from a different regiment drove up on a motor bike to deliver some messages. we finally got talking and it wasn't until about 5-10 minutes later that I realised I was actually talking to my brother. The fact that out of all the people sent to our base, it turned out it was a relation. It was amazing.

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