Remembering the day WW2 started
Martyna, our Business Services Assistant, sat down with one of our wonderful clients, Marjorie, who shared some truly fascinating stories from her childhood during World War II.
Marjorie remembers a warm Sunday in September of 1939 starting out as an ordinary day. As the eldest of 4 children, Marjorie was asked to play outside with her siblings while her parents waited for an important radio broadcast.
At 8 years old, Marjorie was a curious child, so once outside, she snuck by the window and listened in. It is then that she heard the dreaded words from the then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain: “I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.”
Marjorie admitted it was a difficult concept to grasp as a child, and said many children were not aware of the true devastation that was occurring due to the world war. Living in a rural village in the Peak District, Marjorie also recalls the day that ‘evacuees’ arrived at their village. She said everyone was very curious about what these ‘evacuees’ would look like, so one can only imagine the village children’s shock when the evacuees looked just like them: regular kids!
She also recalls the blackout periods during the war. She remembers her mother making curtains, and her father making shutters, as homes were not allowed to show any light as to not become bombing targets. Marjorie fondly remembers how ‘you could see a million stars’ in the sky due to the lack of manmade light.
Marjorie also shared one incident where her and her friends were playing in the woods, when they suddenly heard a plane making a ‘funny noise’. She recalls the plane flying so low, they could see the pilot’s face; it was a German plane flying just some tens of metres above them. Marjorie recalls her and her friends jumping into a field once they saw this – a decision she now looks back on as slightly ridiculous, as the field left them in full view of the passing plane!
Marjorie’s uncle was a soldier in the war – she holds a letter received from him, which she has also kindly allowed us to share. A huge thank you to Marjorie for sharing this with us – a reminder that everyone has a story worth listening to.
Copy of the letter written by her uncle, Fred Bonsall, with kind permission
