WORLD WAR II MEMORIES by TOM STATON

February 10, 2018 by mosadmin

ARMY TRAINING

There was an Army Barracks on Little Moor in Eckington where the army trained the men.

Every day you could hear them coming through the village up to Fitzwilliam Farm (now demolished) which was next to our farm, they crossed fields until they reached the 40 acres field belonging to Sir Osbert Sitwell of Renishaw Hall. They trained how to manoeuvre tanks, they did this almost every day. We had to carry on with our jobs and one day I was weeding between the rows of turnips with our little black horse when 3” to 4” bullets came whistling/flying through the hedge and very near to me. I was lucky they didn’t hit me; the horse broke loose and bolted home. I got under the nearest hedge out of line of fire. They eventually came to the top of the plantation where they were shooting at targets nailed onto the trees.

I complained to the officer in charge who said they were spent when they got to me, the speed they hit ground I think they were very dangerous, but they carried on.

BLITZ

We had been told what might happen that Thursday night in 1940, we had all got gas masks in little cardboard boxes with string attached to sling over your shoulder, we’d had the drill of what to do if it happened in school time and we all had to go in the shelters which had been dug out in the school playground. All the windows had to have shutters and black out blinds, no lights after dark. We had to get warm clothes and boots ready and sandwiches (spam or boiled egg) made bottles of tea and water.

When the first sirens went, fear swept through everybody and we all felt very scared, my father got us all ready to go up to the top of the field where my grandfather had opened a mine at the time of the miners strike in 1926. It was still open and it was planned that we would all go down to be safe, but before we could set off neighbours came knocking at the door with such urgency asking if they could join us in our own cellar. Some hadn’t got dressed properly, one had her corsets under her arm, and her cat under the other. The toilet although it was an outside one with a double seat with 2 holes, small one for children, larger one for adults, but they didn’t seem to mind, although they had water closets themselves, a queue soon formed outside.

**Behind the fence is were the old mine used to be.**

My grandfather who was a strong fearless man who we all looked up too, smoked his pipe but that night it was shaking in his mouth, and my little sister was shaking like a leaf, but my mother was calm and sat in grandfathers rocking chair, knitting socks for the soldiers, he wasn’t sat in it for once so she took advantage of the best seat in the house.

The cellar had a thick stone walls and benches of stone slabs to sit on but nobody complained, but when they all got settled in there my grand father stayed with them and took his chance there with the neighbours, the cellar was full, there must have been about twenty. It had a thick stone barrel roof and toilet near by.

My father, mother, brother and little sister had no choice but to go with father up the field and go down the pit. I had to get the horse out and saddle it up and take him up to the pit to pull the tub back out when we heard the all clear. I had to back the horse down slowly with my parents, brother and sister in the tub. I decided to stay at the top with the horse – everyone made their own choice.

Mr Drury a neighbour who live opposite came with a blanket and a tarpaulin to cover his self, he crouched under the hawthorn hedge and stayed there, he did this every time the sirens went and most of us trembled, we couldn’t help it, the drone of the planes going over directly above us toward Sheffield, we all thought they may be bombing before they got there, fortunately they didn’t, then we could see the massive red glow as the bombs rained down and knowing the people that were being killed and injured it was terrible, and we could have been next at anytime. At last the all clear rang out and we were all so relieved. My job then was to get the horse back on his feet and to start and pull the tub back out of the pit, I led the horse towards the road gate and I still couldn’t hear my father shout that they had got to the top, so I took the horse back 100yds and shorten the rope and this time they were out in the open.

Neighbours all came out into the road but a strange silence fell, we were safe but for Sheffield there was still a big red glow. Most men did fire watching duties, all had tin hats, buckets, shovels and a bag of sand but none was needed that night, but on the Sunday night we had to go through it all again.

My mother remained calm throughout, until we were all safe indoors, then she stared to worry about her parents who lived in Sheffield and she could not do anything until daylight came and then she told my father that she was going to walk to Sheffield to see if she could reach and see if they were still alive, they lived in a row of house all with cellars on Washington Road, Sharrowvale Road and despite much opposition from my father and grand father she set off on her own.

Memory fails me as to how long she was away but although she was under 5ft and very slim due to food rationing she always gave up her ration of meat to give to the men of the family who had to work in the fields. She said, we always made up for it at Christmas when we killed a pig and then she made Pork Pies, scraps and dripping, and the hams were put in salt then dried out, and put in old pillowcases and hung on the beams to cure, same with the bacon but that was ready sooner so we could all eat well on that.

My mam did get back safely from Sheffield but she witnessed many dead bodies and badly injured people, trams flat to ground, she was stopped many times but manage to get through to Washington Road but the row had a direct hit and only two houses remained standing at the end of the road, Someone she asked said there were a lot of people in houses, as they had all crawled through the openings from one cellar to the next as the bombing got nearer and she found them safe and well. She said her prayers were answered that night and she set off back walking to Mosbrough.