Ruby's Memoirs

13. America Declares War

1942 I remember as a year of great disasters, but “as the darkest part of the night comes just before the dawn”, so it was in 1942.

First there was the shock of 100,000 British troops being taken prisoner by the Japanese at Singapore, many before being landed from their ships. The defence was against a sea landing but the Japs took the defences by surprise, invading from the land. Then came the defeat of our army in Africa against the Germans under Rommel. The Americans also had been “caught napping” at Pearl Harbour, which forced them into war against the Japanese, and now they openly declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan and became our Allies. This was a great help to us all, as we were in a desperate position.

Now came a turn in our fortunes. There was a counter attack against Rommel by our Desert Army now under Montgomery, which to our relief pushed the Germans back from Alexandria by the terrific bombardment from the British, before they advanced and drove Rommel back past Tobruk and in complete retreat out of Africa and across the Mediterranean to Marseilles.

American soldiers were surging into Britain bringing with them everything new. They had more modern uniforms, up to date weapons, and the men were fresh and not tired by warfare. Optimism was everywhere, Churchill was at the height of popularity, and he got on with our new Allies and with their President Roosevelt, and every one was on a high, as if peace was close at hand.

My life changed dramatically at this time, I found myself expecting a baby at the end of the year. I was getting on for 36, and the doctor who had taken the place of our usual doctor as he was now a prisoner of war was a lady and she explained that as I was no longer young, I should leave work at once, not do too much and be careful!!! It was a bit of a blow as I really enjoyed working. However I did as I was told and Ted my husband was really thrilled, and I spent the lovely summer at home, doing the garden, the chickens, looking after the land girls, as dear Aunty Poppy was returning to her own home, now repaired, and attacks on the coast were infrequent. I missed her a lot, she had been a wonderful help and companion.

I had my mother to stay for a few weeks, as my sister had come from bombed Plymouth to await accommodation from the Navy in or near Portland where her husband had been posted, so the little bungalow on the Downs was rather full. I had not seen either of my parents for a long time so we had a wonderful time showing my mother the delights of rural life in Hertfordshire.

We suffered few bombing raids now except the nasty buzzbombs but even got used to the feeling that perhaps this one was not for us. They were very lethal to civilians as their range reached much further than the previous ones. The second front was now of great importance, to strike while the German Army had been weakened by its defeats especially on the Eastern front. Stalin said he had done his bit at Stalingrad and it was up to the Allies to do theirs in the West. Churchill had been ill and was getting older, and the Americans were fresh but would soon learn that it wasn't “A bowl of cherries” as they seemed to think it was. Before long Eisenhower took over as Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces and soon learned that Stalin was no pushover, he did not know Stalin as Churchill did.
However by this time Rommel had marched what was left of his Army up through Vichy France without much opposition as, although supposed to have its own Government, there was little they could do without German permission. Rommel soon reached Occupied France and was once again with the German Army. News started to filter through that the General was dead, how true all this was I don’t know but there was a strong feeling that he had taken his own life as Hitler would have had him shot anyway. He was never again mentioned during the remainder of hostilities. A friend of ours who was a prisoner at Tobruk thought he was the finest General the Germans had, but did not have much opinion of a German prison camp, when the Germans retreated they were left without food or water and many died before the British could take Tobruk and rescue the prisoners. He was a shadow of his former self when we saw him, so I can't imagine what they were like before their recovery in an Army Recovery Centre for some weeks.

Of course, the greatest thrill was the birth of our son, a sturdy boy of 9½lbs, it just showed what a rationed diet could do. I shall always remember that Christmas as it snowed heavily and we had 6ft drifts outside the house. The village was cut off for a while but as the Eastern command were in occupation all around they soon got the roads open again. We had a lot of trouble with frozen water pipes. We lived on top of the hill so there was no protection from the North Pole I felt. I soon got busy, and found that with a bucket of boiling water and a kitchen roller towel one could get the ice melted which had formed in a right angled bend in a pipe. Once you knew where the trouble was it was quite easily done provided you had remembered to have a bucket of water ready to boil.

Another amusing story of that Arctic Christmas was that we won a very large goose in a London Christmas Draw which had to be brought home on Christmas Eve. It was very heavy and wrapped in very thin war time brown paper. On the train it was put on the luggage rack overhead and with the vibrations of a steam train in those days the neck and head burst through the thin covering, and dangled over a passenger's head, every time Ted pushed the head back it immediately fell down again. Great merriment within the carriage, but not appreciated by the owner. It was a great laugh in the village, and the story did not lose by the telling. After carrying it from the station, through the village - up the hill to our house, Ted dumped it on the kitchen floor and said, “it would be me who had to win this of all things in a Christmas Draw.” I burst out laughing but it really wasn’t funny to our baby, he wasn’t at all amused and screamed his head off. To this day he is not keen on feathers. The land girls were invaluable, it took them ages to get it anywhere near plucked, and then lots of little bits of down stuck to everything. On the way up from the station Ted had gone in to our local to help him before he ascended the hill, the locals had a great laugh and later the local butcher appeared to see what kind of bird we had, took one look, said, “you don’t want to muck around with them bits of fluff they will all frizzle up if you cook it right.” I made sure I cooked it right, a very large bowl of dripping provided fat for a long time and a very large bird which we had cold for a New Year’s party and after that there wasn't much left. I have never cooked one since.

After the Goose Christmas we were soon into 1944 and now memories of Tony’s babyhood. He was never any trouble, he slept through any raids or parties, and got very used to people in and out at all times of the day and night. He got to know the Land Girls well, who would always look after him if we went out, one especially as she had a boy-friend who was a military policeman who wore a hard peaked cap which Tony loved to play with; we often came home to find him sitting up in his cot with this hat on his head.

So life went on, always hoping for the day when rationing would cease and there would be some attractive things in the shops. There were a few more of unrationed things about now, but usually there was a queue for them, or “they were under the counter” which meant they were not controlled by the government, and the spivs who sold them had their price. Petrol, cigarettes were in great demand, and poachers did a roaring trade in rabbits, pheasants, chickens and tame rabbits. We were never short of milk, butter or eggs, and I kept all the male chicks we had for fattening and eating. I didn’t enjoy this very much but the bones made excellent soup.

The man who managed the sewage works far down by the river which ran through the village grew the most luscious tomatoes, the flavour was wonderful especially after our lack of any fruit other than apples. I don’t think we ever thought of where they were grown! By now we had an Italian Prisoner of War Camp near by, and they also grew a lot of vegetables in their camp which they were allowed to sell and also did some woodwork which often made good presents. I remember buying a set of wooden trays for a wedding present! This didn’t last very long as Hitler had fallen out with Mussolini whom he had to rescue from his own people. He then surrendered to the Allies and withdrew from the fighting, so they were soon repatriated.

Fighting was still going on in France, the big launching pads for the destruction of our country were being smashed daily by our bombers, also many of Germany’s beautiful cities were getting some of the destruction which our cities had suffered at the beginning of the war and were still putting up with it. Meanwhile the Second Front was being organised by Churchill and Eisenhower secretly. The little village of Meonstoke was used for this planning and even the village people here didn't know anything about it until our forces were safely across the channel. A special train was brought from London to a small branch line at Alton, this travelled to Meonstoke under cover at night and shunted into the station under the trees where it could not be seen. Here the War Council with Churchill and Eisenhower laid the plans for the great invasion. It was the best kept secret of the war, and was not discovered until the German look-outs first sighted the Allied Battleships off the Normandy Coast.

I was far away in Hertfordshire and we knew nothing about it until one morning we woke up to the thundering noise of hundreds of planes overhead towing gliders towards the coast. Afterwards we were told that they were dropped behind the German lines to delay the retreat to Berlin. This of course was only a tiny part of the invasion, and when there was no need for secrecy, the newspapers had a field day and even reported on one that came down on our cricket pitch. The excitement was short lived when we realised when it was known how much it had cost in lives especially to the Americans who met strong opposition on the Omaha beach before they gained their foothold so this was to be no quick victory and we settled down to the old routine again.

Ruby Bullock

• to be continued.