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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: Family
- Published: 04/09/2013
Never had a dream
Born 1940, F, from Worcester Park, Surrey, United KingdomNEVER HAD A DREAM
Oh! Look at you so slim, in your smart white jacket, pink shirt, beautiful tie, waistcoat and well everything and raring to get dancing anyone would think you were in your prime, you look better now than you did many years ago…..
Uncle Alf didn’t really have a childhood in the true meaning of the word yet he bears no bitterness to anyone with the exception of his alcoholic Mother whom he hated - yet again he just accepted her and never complained – he said that was how it had to be.
1928..When Alf was just seven years he had to walk, 5 days a week, from Battersea to Chelsea in London about 2 miles, no transport then, to Spiking the bakers for three-penneth of stale bread. You had to queue as there were always 8-10 people in front. When Alf got to the front he’d pull a lonely little face and they would take pity and the scrawny child and say give him a little extra bread – then it was the long walk back home. This was all before school and on an empty stomach.. He would have to be up just after 6 to be there for 6.45. When he got back home he would shoot the bread on the table for his mum to sort out. It was the same ritual everyday - take this load to Mrs Jones and charge her ½ penny and these rolls to Mrs Smith for 1p and so on until the money had been doubled or even trebled. He’d also have to look for bits of coal to sell the same way as the bread. In the evening his mum would be in the pub drinking the profits. Alf never expected anything and just as well because he got nothing and had to go to school afterwards. If he was lucky he’d get a piece of bread to go to school and that was his breakfast.
After school he would mess about with his mates but had to be in bed for 8.30 to get up again early in the morning - never allowed out too long and the same procedure every day. We had no telly, just a radio that you called the cat’s whiskers - you had to tune it in ‘til you got the right tone.
The aerial, the earth wire running from your set in the kitchen to the one on their iron bed in the front room. You had to connect the earth wire to the bed -to get anything. Later on we managed to get another set with an accumulator with it full of acid and we had to charge up the accumulator connect up and sit back and listen to the radio. If there was any boxing on we had to keep dead quiet because my Dad loved boxing.
My mum found out there was a butchers shop selling cheap meat so on the way home from picking the bread up I would go down to Jeffries the butchers in Sloane square near Harrods and get 6 penneth of meat, chop, kidneys anything like that – but when you looked it was all covered in sawdust where it had been dropped on the floor. When I got it home she would wash it and then it was same as the bread I had to take it to Mrs Smith and so on just like the bread, she’d treble her money but I’d never see a penny she would always spend it on drink.
I managed to make myself a scooter, my own transport, it made the journey easier, I would get there and back quicker. I did that for 5 days a week and never get a thing out of it not even a thank you. I would never answer my mother back? –nooo she would pick up the nearest thing, frying pan, shoe a lump of wood anything and hit me with it. And my Dad wouldn’t say anything as I think he was frightened too. He used to say you don’t have to hit him like that but she would say get out of the way or I’ll hit you too. My dad would do anything really just to keep the peace – he would say don’t argue with her to give her ammunition. Alf was the youngest - his brothers and sisters had left home. Sometimes at the weekend we’d make our own grotto (me and my friends) we’d get tufts of grass, make a square or circle and cover with stones, marbles coloured glass, pictures anything to make it look nice. People would pass and say that looks pretty and if you were lucky you’d get ½ penny which was like a fiver and it was all mine.
The Postman’s Ball at Town hall Battersea –
Because we were poor once a year we’d get a free entrance ticket and a raffle ticket to the Postman’s Ball at Battersea Town Hall. I was only 8 years old and this was a big night for me. I couldn’t believe when they called my raffle ticket number and I had to go up on stage because I’d won a prize. My dad took me up I was so excited and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it was a four wheel little tin metal car with pedals and a little squeaky rubber horn, I can still see it now. You could see the child in his face remembering all those years ago. I was so excited and my dad carried it off the stage but I pedalled back to our place - I sat in it all night and wouldn’t get out. It’s hard to believe today that such a gift would bring so much pleasure. I pedalled it all the way home, about two miles, as fast as my little legs would go – I was thrilled but like so many things it wasn’t to last. Two days later I came home from school and my car had gone ‘she’ his mother had sold it for booze. I didn’t really ever have any toys and none even now. Material things don’t matter do they!
I started work at ‘Home & Colonial’ as an order boy taking the orders out to people. I’m amazed that Alf has such a clear memory of dates, names and addresses. Alf was clearly deprived of anything you would call normal you would think he would have chosen not to remember anything. And even now when he has just received bad news about his health he just so “Oh well not much I can do” and carried on as normal.
He hadn’t been at ‘Home and Colonial long’ when the manager of United Dairies approached me with another job. He said how much are they paying you – it was 12/6d per week he said he’d pay me 15 shillings. That was a lot of money then. They looked after me a lot better. On a Saturday night we, me and three mates, used to sometimes camp out. We bought a little tent and a primer stove. We’d go down Wimbledon Common near the A3. It’s close to where ASDA supermarket is today. We found a lovely little spot with a running stream – it was just fields then. We’d make a fire and boil our kettle for a drink. I would always be the last one there because I used to tell my boss I was going camping that night and ask if I could buy any bits. He used to make me up a bag of bits of bacon, bread cracked eggs and give it to me…I’d take it down there and we’d have a big nosh up and come home on Sunday. It was lovely we didn’t have to worry about anyone in those days it was good clean fun all on our own.
One Monday I went into work and there was a lovely big friendly dog in the yard. The manager came out and said Alfie do you like the dog? Oh yes I said - well his yours you can have it. I can’t afford a dog – he said no you can have it the owners are moving and can’t take it with them. Now I had my own dog I was so happy something I’d never dream would happen to me. Every lunch time I would go home with my delivery boy’s bike and my dad would be waiting there with my dog. He’d see me and run and jump in the basket and I’d wheel her home. I’d only had him for a few days when the man next door (who bred dogs to sell) asked if he could buy him. I forget what breed he was but he was beautiful like a sheep dog.. Anyway I came home and my mum had sold him. I was heartbroken and looked over the wall to see him but only just the one time. The man had given him a sponge ball to play with – he’d chewed a bit off had a drink and it lodged in her throat and choked him to death. That really upset me and I hated my mother more from that day............................
When we got bombed out I went to live with one of my older sisters. I got demolition work from all the bombed houses as I was exempt from going in the forces until I was 20 years old.
Going back to when I was a little boy I didn’t think I was poor as all my friends were same as me we only had bare essentials and not even them sometimes. We had little one foot scooters. We’d draw a garage on the road and make signs on it and scoot up and down and pretend we were filling up with petrol or getting it repaired – you had to make your own games then nothing like today. All make believe. I loved boxing and won the individual school championships and was due to go to the Albert Hall. The day before I was playing in the playground with the boy I’d beaten four times before. I fell and got a stone in my knee – they got the medical bloke person who said I wouldn’t be allowed to box that was a real disappointment. It just passed me by. Also my dad loved boxing when he was a youngster. I was also in plays at school but nothing outstanding.
I’ve got a pigs valve in my heart – I thought about that because I once played one of the three little pigs and it made me laugh. When I see children with their ‘phones, games, computers and everything else, their own bedrooms they don’t realise how lucky they are. I never had my own bedroom in my life. Well that’s a lie – I have now since my Dolly died (his beloved wife of …years and I don ‘t like it…..I’ve said before we only had a radio filled with acid etc that had to be charged up for a small fee. It was essential if there was boxing on as my dad wouldn’t miss that. We only had gas in those days. We did get electric later and were always turning the lights on and off, it was good. Clothes would be cast-offs anything she could get hold of – sometimes the trousers were threadbare around the knee but you had to wear them. I didn’t realise I was poor when I was growing up it was only years later and now of course as I can have anything I want - well what I need - mind you I’ve worked hard for it – no hand outs. Kids today don’t realise how lucky they are and don’t even look after their modern expensive bikes and more. They go in a shop and just leave them lying on the ground they don’t even prop them up – no values. So lucky. Thinking back about my little car I’d take off my sock to polish it kids today would probably laugh. Even now I hate being cold – I remember being cold. We had no heat in the bedroom I shared with my sister and I don’t know why but there where iron bars up at the window. There was a stable next door and the horse used to be just below our window – there were some very unpleasant smells from him!!! Something else you can’t do today is leave doors or windows unlocked we, like everyone else, had our key on a piece of string which you would pull up through the letter box.
I just accepted everything like my brothers trousers – when he was finished with them my mum would just cut the bottom off and that’s what I had to wear – they weren’t even stitched. My brother used to work for the railway sewing tarpaulin sheets and sadly he got TB he died at 22 when I was 12.
My dad was a labourer cleaning bricks and doing other odd jobs. Also, Taylors our landlord gave my dad a job of trimming wallpaper. There used to be a 1” white border and he’d be an expert at trimming for 1p a roll. A pint in those days was 2p and I think 10 cigs were 4p. You could get 3 quail cigs and 2 swanvesta matches for 2p. This was the only life I knew I didn’t think about a better life.
Before I went to sea I was an air raid warden – no pay but a tin hat and and armband.
When I eventually joined the Air force and been there for 6 months I was waiting in Blackpool for a troop ship to Liverpool to leave for South Africa, India and then to Burma. I didn’t know when the war ended I would get a Burma star, a defence medal and letter which, I still have in it’s little box. I got it a year after the war- a big surprise.
I was at sea for 6 weeks and we were the biggest convoy to leave Liverpool. Our boat was a peace time liner with a swimming pool and everything but there was something wrong which meant we couldn’t slow it down as it would ruin the engines. The captain had to ask if we could leave the convoy which we did so we were on our own with no escort until we could get the engine repaired. Once when I went up to take my time as the gunner it was really quiet and my mate said look there we are and with not another ship in sight. I asked about the rum I’d always heard about which apparently you got with cocoa the nights you were on gun-duty. Also other drinks were tied with string and hung out through a porthole to cool down – not long in the sea it was ice cold…
We eventually stopped in Cape Town to top up on supplies etc and me and my mate got dressed up for a night on the town – well that was until the officer saw us and said sorry you’re on police duty in the town. We only had batons but the S.Africans had guns and we were assured they would look after us. Which they did. One asked if we were hungry and of course we were. They took us to a nice restaurant where the table was reserved - no alcohol but a lovely meal and it was free - it wasn’t all bad. When we got back to working we checked a cinema and again the manager recognising we were from England asked how long we would be there – 3 days we said so he offered us a free ticket to the show the next evening… We didn’t go to the show because when we left the ship we were approached by (nice) local girls who took us out for the day and paid for everything. Then onto to Bombay – Calcutta by train which was sweltering and we only just had shutters – no windows and no loos – just a contraption which you stood over – not nice. We had great buckets of ice for the drink which we had to have the heat was indescribable we weren’t used to it…. I’m not telling all the details but we they saw a midan a cow drop dead and within minutes the King vulture was there taking his pickings (really gruesome) and then all the other vultures swoop not pleasant. After 40 minutes all you would see were bones – so nothing left for disease. I forgot about the Pith helmets we had to wear in India they were so hot so we used the leaves from a banana tree to create a bit of moisture for our heads – eventually we did get proper bush hats.
There were a lot of expletives but it doesn’t seem right to include them now they were really ‘war words’. I don’t like bad language
In Calcutta the locals would chew this betel nut which left a red residue on your teeth. They would just spit anywhere. Unfortunately for one he spat over my spotless boots – I was fuming we were extremely smart and proud of our uniforms. I lost it and hit him and then used his white robe to wipe my boots I hope he thought twice before doing that again…
We were in Penang when we heard the war had ended there was great excitement . The war in Europe ended in 1945 but the war with Japan didn’t end until 1946 some 8th months later.
I’ve just remembered a story from my time in Burma. We had top to make our own own toilet facilities (not good). Out of large pieces of tree trunk. And it was an art to do ‘real business’. On one occasion they heard an almighty scream and one of the guys who hadn’t quite got the hang of it fell in.- .imagine…They had to pull him out and then clean him over and over from their home made shower. A 44 gallon drum of water with a piece of string to operate the so called shower head I’ve seen them in many old war films and I bet people don’t believe it was real. The guy in question was kept at bay for quite a few days. Alf rarely talks about losing his friends and the bad stuff that happened (because we know it did) but just talks of light hearted memories and ….you somehow know you shouldn’t intrude….. Another time they were somewhere with a river and of course everyone wanted to swim. ….I can’t swim and they said the water was fast and the guys who went in said it was freezing. They had a new sergeant who’d been with them just 4 months he dived in and got cramp and sadly drowned, that was so sad as it was so innocent and could have happened anywhere.
We didn’t have many laughs in Burma but where we were staying was at the top of a hill which we reached by cable cars. The houses, which had electricity, had all been deserted by the Japanese and were full of food - some we liked some we didn’t. However, we had instruction to clear all the rice so instructed the Coolies – it was put in sacks and taken by lorries to a depot or the like for distribution. We had to keep an eye for any thieving. I was downstairs in this house when I noticed a Coolie handing over a package to another bloke. I beckoned him over and said that’s wrong (well I couldn’t speak the language but he knew what I meant) and said I put the sack back on your shoulder and back on the cable cars. I went over to the two guys who were on the make and clipped them round the ears – it didn’t happen again.
There were small children trying to pick up any bits of fallen rice (momentarily taken back to my own poor childhood) I pricked a sack with my bayonet and walked away – the kids were collecting the rice in anything they could find – that felt good…..
There was a bus service into Penang so me and three of lads went for a night into town when all of sudden the bus stopped. The driver could speak English but didn’t know what had happened. We lifted the bonnet and a pipe had come out of the Carbureta. Anyway, I managed to fix it and said off we go – no ‘Sir’ you fixed it you drive so I drove into town. Thank God for those light moments.
The highlight of my life was the start of my trip home. We went off on a short nosed flying boat the sensation on the water was amazing I will never forget that. Then a train from Bombay - in all it took us six weeks to get home.
Once in London Alf got a train to Clapham Junction and then walked to his sister’s house near Battersea. My sister and her husband were pleased to see me but there was no fuss no real greeting after 4 years abroad, that’s how we were.. Again it was something he’d never experienced, true affection, so why would he miss it. I think of my own 4 children and grandchildren and the fuss I make over them for the slightest thing. …. Alf doesn’t complain and I’ve never heard him do so ever. He put his kitbag down refusing his sisters offer of dinner to go across the road for a pint. The barman said have you been abroad? Alf said yes for 4 years and I’ve been dreaming of this day – needless to say he got a free pint.
Alf had met Dolly, the most special person he ever knew, they had met just before he went away and had written a few times. I feel sad it all seems so matter of fact. Anyway he goes to where she is working and first saw her friend Lily Hancock – Dolly ran in the back it must have been a bit daunting. She asks her boss if she could have a bit of time off.
Yes he said 15 minutes. Dolly took Alf to meet her Mum, Aunt Ida another lovely lady, as she’d obviously heard about him. Would you like a cup of tea you were always greeted like that - they instantly liked each other. But meeting Dolly’s dad didn’t go so well until they had a night out in the pub and Alf’s introduction to Young’s beer (famous in that area) and they sealed the start of a loving relationship.
One night I was saying goodnight to Dolly when I got a Malaria attack. She was scared and called in her dad who was a big man. He carried me in and put me in his chair (I didn’t realise then what a privilege that was) and said what shall I do. Cover me with anything you can find, but your sweating he said, I know but that’s what you have to do. I didn’t feel ok for about an hour. I said my thankyou’s and went to leave. You’re not bl*****g going anywhere he said and made me up a bed in the front room. They were such a loving family nothing like my own but treated me like there’s. As Xmas time neared Dolly said Mum and Dad want you to come to us – I felt awkward I’d never celebrated Xmas before. On Christmas day there were presents and cards – I was 26 years old and dumfounded I’d never ever had a card not even as a child on my birthday – never. In my house Christmas just passed by without any celebration, no stocking, nothing. Dolly said well at least say thank you. I was stuttering I’ve never had anything like this before I didn’t know what to do or say. She told her Mum and everything was alright.
Never had a dream(Maggie Hazyward)
NEVER HAD A DREAM
Oh! Look at you so slim, in your smart white jacket, pink shirt, beautiful tie, waistcoat and well everything and raring to get dancing anyone would think you were in your prime, you look better now than you did many years ago…..
Uncle Alf didn’t really have a childhood in the true meaning of the word yet he bears no bitterness to anyone with the exception of his alcoholic Mother whom he hated - yet again he just accepted her and never complained – he said that was how it had to be.
1928..When Alf was just seven years he had to walk, 5 days a week, from Battersea to Chelsea in London about 2 miles, no transport then, to Spiking the bakers for three-penneth of stale bread. You had to queue as there were always 8-10 people in front. When Alf got to the front he’d pull a lonely little face and they would take pity and the scrawny child and say give him a little extra bread – then it was the long walk back home. This was all before school and on an empty stomach.. He would have to be up just after 6 to be there for 6.45. When he got back home he would shoot the bread on the table for his mum to sort out. It was the same ritual everyday - take this load to Mrs Jones and charge her ½ penny and these rolls to Mrs Smith for 1p and so on until the money had been doubled or even trebled. He’d also have to look for bits of coal to sell the same way as the bread. In the evening his mum would be in the pub drinking the profits. Alf never expected anything and just as well because he got nothing and had to go to school afterwards. If he was lucky he’d get a piece of bread to go to school and that was his breakfast.
After school he would mess about with his mates but had to be in bed for 8.30 to get up again early in the morning - never allowed out too long and the same procedure every day. We had no telly, just a radio that you called the cat’s whiskers - you had to tune it in ‘til you got the right tone.
The aerial, the earth wire running from your set in the kitchen to the one on their iron bed in the front room. You had to connect the earth wire to the bed -to get anything. Later on we managed to get another set with an accumulator with it full of acid and we had to charge up the accumulator connect up and sit back and listen to the radio. If there was any boxing on we had to keep dead quiet because my Dad loved boxing.
My mum found out there was a butchers shop selling cheap meat so on the way home from picking the bread up I would go down to Jeffries the butchers in Sloane square near Harrods and get 6 penneth of meat, chop, kidneys anything like that – but when you looked it was all covered in sawdust where it had been dropped on the floor. When I got it home she would wash it and then it was same as the bread I had to take it to Mrs Smith and so on just like the bread, she’d treble her money but I’d never see a penny she would always spend it on drink.
I managed to make myself a scooter, my own transport, it made the journey easier, I would get there and back quicker. I did that for 5 days a week and never get a thing out of it not even a thank you. I would never answer my mother back? –nooo she would pick up the nearest thing, frying pan, shoe a lump of wood anything and hit me with it. And my Dad wouldn’t say anything as I think he was frightened too. He used to say you don’t have to hit him like that but she would say get out of the way or I’ll hit you too. My dad would do anything really just to keep the peace – he would say don’t argue with her to give her ammunition. Alf was the youngest - his brothers and sisters had left home. Sometimes at the weekend we’d make our own grotto (me and my friends) we’d get tufts of grass, make a square or circle and cover with stones, marbles coloured glass, pictures anything to make it look nice. People would pass and say that looks pretty and if you were lucky you’d get ½ penny which was like a fiver and it was all mine.
The Postman’s Ball at Town hall Battersea –
Because we were poor once a year we’d get a free entrance ticket and a raffle ticket to the Postman’s Ball at Battersea Town Hall. I was only 8 years old and this was a big night for me. I couldn’t believe when they called my raffle ticket number and I had to go up on stage because I’d won a prize. My dad took me up I was so excited and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it was a four wheel little tin metal car with pedals and a little squeaky rubber horn, I can still see it now. You could see the child in his face remembering all those years ago. I was so excited and my dad carried it off the stage but I pedalled back to our place - I sat in it all night and wouldn’t get out. It’s hard to believe today that such a gift would bring so much pleasure. I pedalled it all the way home, about two miles, as fast as my little legs would go – I was thrilled but like so many things it wasn’t to last. Two days later I came home from school and my car had gone ‘she’ his mother had sold it for booze. I didn’t really ever have any toys and none even now. Material things don’t matter do they!
I started work at ‘Home & Colonial’ as an order boy taking the orders out to people. I’m amazed that Alf has such a clear memory of dates, names and addresses. Alf was clearly deprived of anything you would call normal you would think he would have chosen not to remember anything. And even now when he has just received bad news about his health he just so “Oh well not much I can do” and carried on as normal.
He hadn’t been at ‘Home and Colonial long’ when the manager of United Dairies approached me with another job. He said how much are they paying you – it was 12/6d per week he said he’d pay me 15 shillings. That was a lot of money then. They looked after me a lot better. On a Saturday night we, me and three mates, used to sometimes camp out. We bought a little tent and a primer stove. We’d go down Wimbledon Common near the A3. It’s close to where ASDA supermarket is today. We found a lovely little spot with a running stream – it was just fields then. We’d make a fire and boil our kettle for a drink. I would always be the last one there because I used to tell my boss I was going camping that night and ask if I could buy any bits. He used to make me up a bag of bits of bacon, bread cracked eggs and give it to me…I’d take it down there and we’d have a big nosh up and come home on Sunday. It was lovely we didn’t have to worry about anyone in those days it was good clean fun all on our own.
One Monday I went into work and there was a lovely big friendly dog in the yard. The manager came out and said Alfie do you like the dog? Oh yes I said - well his yours you can have it. I can’t afford a dog – he said no you can have it the owners are moving and can’t take it with them. Now I had my own dog I was so happy something I’d never dream would happen to me. Every lunch time I would go home with my delivery boy’s bike and my dad would be waiting there with my dog. He’d see me and run and jump in the basket and I’d wheel her home. I’d only had him for a few days when the man next door (who bred dogs to sell) asked if he could buy him. I forget what breed he was but he was beautiful like a sheep dog.. Anyway I came home and my mum had sold him. I was heartbroken and looked over the wall to see him but only just the one time. The man had given him a sponge ball to play with – he’d chewed a bit off had a drink and it lodged in her throat and choked him to death. That really upset me and I hated my mother more from that day............................
When we got bombed out I went to live with one of my older sisters. I got demolition work from all the bombed houses as I was exempt from going in the forces until I was 20 years old.
Going back to when I was a little boy I didn’t think I was poor as all my friends were same as me we only had bare essentials and not even them sometimes. We had little one foot scooters. We’d draw a garage on the road and make signs on it and scoot up and down and pretend we were filling up with petrol or getting it repaired – you had to make your own games then nothing like today. All make believe. I loved boxing and won the individual school championships and was due to go to the Albert Hall. The day before I was playing in the playground with the boy I’d beaten four times before. I fell and got a stone in my knee – they got the medical bloke person who said I wouldn’t be allowed to box that was a real disappointment. It just passed me by. Also my dad loved boxing when he was a youngster. I was also in plays at school but nothing outstanding.
I’ve got a pigs valve in my heart – I thought about that because I once played one of the three little pigs and it made me laugh. When I see children with their ‘phones, games, computers and everything else, their own bedrooms they don’t realise how lucky they are. I never had my own bedroom in my life. Well that’s a lie – I have now since my Dolly died (his beloved wife of …years and I don ‘t like it…..I’ve said before we only had a radio filled with acid etc that had to be charged up for a small fee. It was essential if there was boxing on as my dad wouldn’t miss that. We only had gas in those days. We did get electric later and were always turning the lights on and off, it was good. Clothes would be cast-offs anything she could get hold of – sometimes the trousers were threadbare around the knee but you had to wear them. I didn’t realise I was poor when I was growing up it was only years later and now of course as I can have anything I want - well what I need - mind you I’ve worked hard for it – no hand outs. Kids today don’t realise how lucky they are and don’t even look after their modern expensive bikes and more. They go in a shop and just leave them lying on the ground they don’t even prop them up – no values. So lucky. Thinking back about my little car I’d take off my sock to polish it kids today would probably laugh. Even now I hate being cold – I remember being cold. We had no heat in the bedroom I shared with my sister and I don’t know why but there where iron bars up at the window. There was a stable next door and the horse used to be just below our window – there were some very unpleasant smells from him!!! Something else you can’t do today is leave doors or windows unlocked we, like everyone else, had our key on a piece of string which you would pull up through the letter box.
I just accepted everything like my brothers trousers – when he was finished with them my mum would just cut the bottom off and that’s what I had to wear – they weren’t even stitched. My brother used to work for the railway sewing tarpaulin sheets and sadly he got TB he died at 22 when I was 12.
My dad was a labourer cleaning bricks and doing other odd jobs. Also, Taylors our landlord gave my dad a job of trimming wallpaper. There used to be a 1” white border and he’d be an expert at trimming for 1p a roll. A pint in those days was 2p and I think 10 cigs were 4p. You could get 3 quail cigs and 2 swanvesta matches for 2p. This was the only life I knew I didn’t think about a better life.
Before I went to sea I was an air raid warden – no pay but a tin hat and and armband.
When I eventually joined the Air force and been there for 6 months I was waiting in Blackpool for a troop ship to Liverpool to leave for South Africa, India and then to Burma. I didn’t know when the war ended I would get a Burma star, a defence medal and letter which, I still have in it’s little box. I got it a year after the war- a big surprise.
I was at sea for 6 weeks and we were the biggest convoy to leave Liverpool. Our boat was a peace time liner with a swimming pool and everything but there was something wrong which meant we couldn’t slow it down as it would ruin the engines. The captain had to ask if we could leave the convoy which we did so we were on our own with no escort until we could get the engine repaired. Once when I went up to take my time as the gunner it was really quiet and my mate said look there we are and with not another ship in sight. I asked about the rum I’d always heard about which apparently you got with cocoa the nights you were on gun-duty. Also other drinks were tied with string and hung out through a porthole to cool down – not long in the sea it was ice cold…
We eventually stopped in Cape Town to top up on supplies etc and me and my mate got dressed up for a night on the town – well that was until the officer saw us and said sorry you’re on police duty in the town. We only had batons but the S.Africans had guns and we were assured they would look after us. Which they did. One asked if we were hungry and of course we were. They took us to a nice restaurant where the table was reserved - no alcohol but a lovely meal and it was free - it wasn’t all bad. When we got back to working we checked a cinema and again the manager recognising we were from England asked how long we would be there – 3 days we said so he offered us a free ticket to the show the next evening… We didn’t go to the show because when we left the ship we were approached by (nice) local girls who took us out for the day and paid for everything. Then onto to Bombay – Calcutta by train which was sweltering and we only just had shutters – no windows and no loos – just a contraption which you stood over – not nice. We had great buckets of ice for the drink which we had to have the heat was indescribable we weren’t used to it…. I’m not telling all the details but we they saw a midan a cow drop dead and within minutes the King vulture was there taking his pickings (really gruesome) and then all the other vultures swoop not pleasant. After 40 minutes all you would see were bones – so nothing left for disease. I forgot about the Pith helmets we had to wear in India they were so hot so we used the leaves from a banana tree to create a bit of moisture for our heads – eventually we did get proper bush hats.
There were a lot of expletives but it doesn’t seem right to include them now they were really ‘war words’. I don’t like bad language
In Calcutta the locals would chew this betel nut which left a red residue on your teeth. They would just spit anywhere. Unfortunately for one he spat over my spotless boots – I was fuming we were extremely smart and proud of our uniforms. I lost it and hit him and then used his white robe to wipe my boots I hope he thought twice before doing that again…
We were in Penang when we heard the war had ended there was great excitement . The war in Europe ended in 1945 but the war with Japan didn’t end until 1946 some 8th months later.
I’ve just remembered a story from my time in Burma. We had top to make our own own toilet facilities (not good). Out of large pieces of tree trunk. And it was an art to do ‘real business’. On one occasion they heard an almighty scream and one of the guys who hadn’t quite got the hang of it fell in.- .imagine…They had to pull him out and then clean him over and over from their home made shower. A 44 gallon drum of water with a piece of string to operate the so called shower head I’ve seen them in many old war films and I bet people don’t believe it was real. The guy in question was kept at bay for quite a few days. Alf rarely talks about losing his friends and the bad stuff that happened (because we know it did) but just talks of light hearted memories and ….you somehow know you shouldn’t intrude….. Another time they were somewhere with a river and of course everyone wanted to swim. ….I can’t swim and they said the water was fast and the guys who went in said it was freezing. They had a new sergeant who’d been with them just 4 months he dived in and got cramp and sadly drowned, that was so sad as it was so innocent and could have happened anywhere.
We didn’t have many laughs in Burma but where we were staying was at the top of a hill which we reached by cable cars. The houses, which had electricity, had all been deserted by the Japanese and were full of food - some we liked some we didn’t. However, we had instruction to clear all the rice so instructed the Coolies – it was put in sacks and taken by lorries to a depot or the like for distribution. We had to keep an eye for any thieving. I was downstairs in this house when I noticed a Coolie handing over a package to another bloke. I beckoned him over and said that’s wrong (well I couldn’t speak the language but he knew what I meant) and said I put the sack back on your shoulder and back on the cable cars. I went over to the two guys who were on the make and clipped them round the ears – it didn’t happen again.
There were small children trying to pick up any bits of fallen rice (momentarily taken back to my own poor childhood) I pricked a sack with my bayonet and walked away – the kids were collecting the rice in anything they could find – that felt good…..
There was a bus service into Penang so me and three of lads went for a night into town when all of sudden the bus stopped. The driver could speak English but didn’t know what had happened. We lifted the bonnet and a pipe had come out of the Carbureta. Anyway, I managed to fix it and said off we go – no ‘Sir’ you fixed it you drive so I drove into town. Thank God for those light moments.
The highlight of my life was the start of my trip home. We went off on a short nosed flying boat the sensation on the water was amazing I will never forget that. Then a train from Bombay - in all it took us six weeks to get home.
Once in London Alf got a train to Clapham Junction and then walked to his sister’s house near Battersea. My sister and her husband were pleased to see me but there was no fuss no real greeting after 4 years abroad, that’s how we were.. Again it was something he’d never experienced, true affection, so why would he miss it. I think of my own 4 children and grandchildren and the fuss I make over them for the slightest thing. …. Alf doesn’t complain and I’ve never heard him do so ever. He put his kitbag down refusing his sisters offer of dinner to go across the road for a pint. The barman said have you been abroad? Alf said yes for 4 years and I’ve been dreaming of this day – needless to say he got a free pint.
Alf had met Dolly, the most special person he ever knew, they had met just before he went away and had written a few times. I feel sad it all seems so matter of fact. Anyway he goes to where she is working and first saw her friend Lily Hancock – Dolly ran in the back it must have been a bit daunting. She asks her boss if she could have a bit of time off.
Yes he said 15 minutes. Dolly took Alf to meet her Mum, Aunt Ida another lovely lady, as she’d obviously heard about him. Would you like a cup of tea you were always greeted like that - they instantly liked each other. But meeting Dolly’s dad didn’t go so well until they had a night out in the pub and Alf’s introduction to Young’s beer (famous in that area) and they sealed the start of a loving relationship.
One night I was saying goodnight to Dolly when I got a Malaria attack. She was scared and called in her dad who was a big man. He carried me in and put me in his chair (I didn’t realise then what a privilege that was) and said what shall I do. Cover me with anything you can find, but your sweating he said, I know but that’s what you have to do. I didn’t feel ok for about an hour. I said my thankyou’s and went to leave. You’re not bl*****g going anywhere he said and made me up a bed in the front room. They were such a loving family nothing like my own but treated me like there’s. As Xmas time neared Dolly said Mum and Dad want you to come to us – I felt awkward I’d never celebrated Xmas before. On Christmas day there were presents and cards – I was 26 years old and dumfounded I’d never ever had a card not even as a child on my birthday – never. In my house Christmas just passed by without any celebration, no stocking, nothing. Dolly said well at least say thank you. I was stuttering I’ve never had anything like this before I didn’t know what to do or say. She told her Mum and everything was alright.
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Maggie Hazyward
11/10/2019Thank you so much for your comments it means so much. Especially being remembrance Sunday a day we used to celebrate with Alf. He still is greatly missed
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Melody Kuku
11/04/2019So interesting yet sad. It's a sad thing to go through childhood without really love and affection from parents and family. I'm glad he met Dolly.
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