Description
Object description
British air raid warden served with Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence Service in West Ham, GB, 1/1939-1/1942; private served as clerk with Auxiliary Territorial Service in GB, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in West Ham, GB, 1919-1939: social background and death of mother; education; step mother; employment in secretarial office work; reaction to approach of war. Recollections of period as air raid warden with Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence Service in West Ham, GB, 1/1939-1/1942: reasons for volunteering for Air Raid Precautions on part-time basis, 1/1939; incident report form; training in theoretical use of stirrup pump against incendiary bombs; fitting gas masks; blackout; types of air raid shelters available; requirement for householders to list occupants and their movements; routine duties; warden's plaque; reactions of civilians; uniform; Anderson Shelters; outbreak of war and false air raid alarm, 3/9/1939; nature of wardens' post at Plaistow Grammar School; reaction to being called up as full time warden; shift routine and checking blackout; pay; exercises; first aid training; promotion to command post, 8/1940; story of assisting bombed out civilians following heavy German Air Fore raid, 7/9/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: violent reaction of bombed out civilians and threat to attack wardens' post following heavy German Air Force raid, 7/9/1940; role patrolling sector during German Air Force raids, taking control of incidents and completing damage reports; methods used against incendiary bombs; effects of severe raid and lack of water; story of being assisted by Home Guard; effects of German Air Force bomb hit on Anderson Shelter; types of bombs encountered; story of woman giving birth in air raid shelter; story illustrating difficulty in putting out incendiary bomb; detonation of unexploded bomb; civilian morale; story of German Air Force raid on birthday, 17/11/1940; air raid warden knocked out in air raid, 19/3/1941; story of discovering corpse following German Air Force raid; relations with other air raid wardens; question of adequacy of training; requesting assistance; story of looking after confused old lady following German Air Force raid.
REEL 3 Continues: question of looting; necessity of walking through streets during German Air Force raids and personal morale; story of man killed after refusing to take shelter during German Air Force raid; hours worked and fatigue; attitude of civilians; food and clothing rationing; district and divisional air raid wardens; story of drunken chief air raid warden; pride in role; reaction to friend killed in flooded cellar air raid shelter; boredom following decline in German Air Force raids after, 5/1941. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with Auxiliary Territorial Service in GB, 1/1942-2/1942: volunteering for military service and subsequent call-up, 1/1942; training with Auxiliary Territorial Service at Northampton Racecourse Camp, 1/1942-2/1942. Recollections of period as clerk with Auxiliary Territorial Service attached to Army Records Branch at Sidcup and Leicester, GB, 2/1942-7/1945: exchange of posting; role writing to soldiers' parents following fall of Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942; story of accident whilst typing; flax picking; route marches; story of objecting to insensitive letter dictated by officer to dead soldier's family; reaction to military lifestyle and discipline; stories relating to regimental sergeant-major.
REEL 4 Continues: question of commission or promotion; typing secret lists of units involved in D-Day operations; recreational activities; question of smoking cigarettes; marriage, 5/1942; reaction to German V1 Flying Bombs and V2 Rockets; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; background to voting for Labour Party despite admiration for Prime Minster Winston Churchill during General Election, 7/1945; demobilisation. Post-war career: secretarial and clerical work; effects of wartime experiences.
