My memories of the war Roger Lewis
“Go and look what`s at the bottom of the garden.” The date was probably 4th or 5th June 1944 but I was only 4 and my life wasn’t yet ruled by the calendar. It was mum shouting; it had to be because dad had been called up. Ironic really, because my parents ran the Post Office in Priston and he had delivered his own call-up papers. Even at the age of 3, I realised the buff envelope did not carry good news.
Aged 37 he was too old for the front line so he was sent from the safety of Priston to the bombs of London. There he was put in the Pay Corps. He spent one night emptying the gold from the bank of England and worked alongside M E Clifton James who was Monty`s double. Dad introduced me and I received the Monty salute and some words of encouragment. People often ask me, “What did he look like?” Ah well….
One Friday my dad arrived at Paddington Station and realised it was impossible to get through the crush to the train. There was a WREN next to him so he picked her up and shouted, “Lady fainted! Gangway gangway!” the crowd parted and they got to the train that way. I recently read a book recounting this incident, was this my father`s claim to fame or was this scenario repeated time and time again on many London stations?
Shirley lived two doors up from us. I remember her Dad, if only from the waist down. He was in the merchant navy and he told me about the bell bottoms and the horizontal stripes. He did not return from one trip, lost on the Atlantic convoys. Shirley had a younger brother and her mum was unable to cope. My parents started looking after her and she spent more and more time with us until they eventually set the adoption process in motion. So I spent some time with a “sister”. My mum was taken ill before the process was completed and we had to suddenly relocate to Marksbury, Shirley did not come with us and was not spoken of again. As far as I know I did not think of her for about 50 years until i told Hazel and I was overcome with sadness. If a small wartime incident could cause me such trauma it`s no wonder so many people who had real problems suffered.
I did as mum requested and went to the bottom of the garden. Priston was full of American tanks and other vehicles with men milling on the village green. The soldiers gave the children chewing gum, we took a lot of persuading that you put something in your mouth and did not swallow it. I saw my first black person. Writing this eighty years later I wonder how many of those gum chewing Americans did not survive the next eighty hours, war is a terrible thing.
The next day they were gone.
I have stepped from my garden wall directly on to an American tank. Not many people can say that.
Author: Roger Lewis
29/5/2025