Memories Of War Years 1939 45 Newport

A Memory of Newport.

Memories of War years 1939 -1945. By John Beal.

Little did I realise that I would be involved in the army when war broke out in 1939. I was attending Hatherleigh Central School in Newport at the time and as a young lad did not really understand what the fuss was all about, when it was announced that we had declared war on Germany, but I was soon to find out.
It affected my education a great deal, because soon after the announcement was made by the authorities that only half of the schoolchildren would be in school at one time, in case a bomb was dropped. Half the schoolchildren went in the mornings and the other half went in the afternoons. If the sirens were sounded during the time we were in school we had already rehearsed to evacuate the school to be boarded with families in the Christchurch /Gibbs road Area. There was no panicking, just an orderly march to our allocated address. Hatherleigh was a good school, our headmaster Mr Hando, (Nobby) when we talked about him in the school yard, was very strict, but also fair. He compiled a school song which we sang each morning: 'As we climb the hill to Hatherleigh in the sweet fresh morning air. The birds sing around us merrily, and the sun the on the Severn shines fair'. I do not remember the lines that followed but ex members of the school maybe able to add the words that followed.

Unfortunately for me I did not complete my education. When I reached the age of fourteen, half way through my third year at Hatherleigh I was released for a job as a junior on the Great Western Railway in The District Goods Managers Office, in High Street. Mr Hando was not pleased about this and but did not prevent me from leaving. During my interview I made sure that my prefects badge was in full view. Being the youngest but one of eight children and coming from a poor family my parents wanted me to contribute to my upbringing. I succeeded to get the job and remained there until my call-up in 1944. Thank goodness this does not happen today.

How well I remember the air raid sirens going off during the war and everyone rushing to the air raid shelters, sitting in the cold damp Anderson shelter listening to the German bombers passing overhead. The ack- ack- guns situated around the town followed the searchlights scanning the sky for the enemy aircraft and when the plane was spotted they opened fire with a salvo of shells, which made a tremendous noise. This happened on many occasions, they were on there way to drop bombs elsewhere up country. After many sleepless nights and having to go work the next morning I decided that enough was enough and I would stay in bed whatever happened. Until the night that Newport was about to get its share of the bombings. A land mine was dropped in Eveswell Street which was a mile from where I lived. The blast from this was felt all over the town and this certainly did the trick of getting me out of bed, I think I would have broken all records at the time to get from bed to shelter.

There were many broken windows in the area and damaged buildings surrounding Eveswell but where the land mine dropped many houses were destroyed, and lives lost. They were obviously aiming for the railway sidings, and the ammunitions factory nearby. As I passed the top of the street on my way to work the next morning the rescue services were still busy carrying out their duties. Despite of all the sad events during this time life carried on as normal.

During the years prior my call up for service in the army, and as I had been deprived of a full education I attended Newport Technical College to further my education. I also joined the 210 1st. Mon Air Training Corp, we did our training in the Secondary School next to St Mary's church on Stow Hill, I became proficient in the Morse Code. This enabled me to be selected for training as a wireless operator in the Royal Artillery when I was called up for the forces in 1944. I was hoping to go into The Royal Air Force but the army's needs were greater at that time. Some of our time was also spent doing marching drill around the cycle track at Newport Rugby grounds every Sunday morning. Afterwards we played football in front of the rugby posts across the width of the field, which was great fun. Most of the lads of my age were very keen to join up as it was near the end of hostilities in Europe and it was likely that we would be needed for the war against the Japanese in Burma.

I recently wrote a story about Discipline For The Young Soldier on the WW2 website and hope to continue with my experiences in India later on.

That's it for now. Ex Sgt. John Beal (83) Royal Signals.

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