Memories of Pembroke Dock at War ...cont'd
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Where Were You When The Bomb Dropped?
by Margaret J. Trobridge (Knight) |
I was almost 12 years old when the war started, so only one year of my time at P.D County School was during peacetime. Thereafter, it was five years disrupted by disturbed nights. Apart from the air-raids, we were often awoken by the siren when planes were passing overhead - presumably on their way to other targets. My class spent some time in the nearby St Andrews Church Hall - a gloomy, depressing place - and there were several changes of staff as the younger ones left to join the forces.
We lived at the Prospect Tavern in Prospect Place and, at the start, my mother fitted out part of our cellar with bunks and a few essentials, but before it was even used my sister - on a visit from London - asked where the shovel was, ready to dig ourselves out! That ‘shelter’ was abandoned! Neither did we use the Anderson Shelter in the garden, which my mother said was too damp and spider-infested, so we crouched on the cellar steps which she decided was our safest option.
Many of us must have been remarkably naive about the danger of the bombing, for on the evening of the day on which the Llanreath oil-tanks were set on fire I, along with many others, paraded along the top of the Barrack Hill marvelling at the spectacle. We soon changed our attitude when the fire raged on and lives were lost. Firemen came from other parts of the country and between shifts sought a few hours rest wherever they could; I remember two blacked, exhausted men from the Midlands snatching a few hours sleep at our house. I am not sure but I think it was at this time that the Temperance Hall was destroyed and some fire-men billeted there were killed or injured.
After some particularly heavy raids, we left our cellar steps "shelter" to spend a night in the fields along Buttermilk Lane. The following night we were invited to go to a very distant relative in Pembroke. As she had invited several others, her small front room was too crowded to do more than sit upright on rather uncomfortable chairs. The next morning my mother and my aunt had feet so swollen as a result of sitting like that all night that they couldn't get their shoes on. We got home with difficulty to find my father happily tucking into his breakfast - as a tough old soldier he never left his post. After that neither did we!
One of the attempts to destroy the Llanion oil tanks was a sudden mid-morning raid. It must have been holiday time, for we were not at school. It was a brief attack and as soon as it was over we came out with most of our neighbours and, with a clear view from Prospect Place, could see that the Llanion tanks were undamaged.
Unfortunately the "all clear" had sounded too soon and one of the enemy planes suddenly reappeared flying low and machine-gunning indiscriminately - we all ran like rabbits back to our holes!
These occasions, and others like them, were perhaps the "high dramas", but all through the war years was the ever present rationing, shortages, worry and, for some, heartbreak. For our family there was the added fear for my brother, a prisoner-of-war with the Japanese. No wonder we all greeted V.E.day - and later V.J,day - with such enthusiasm. |
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Pembroke Dock at War
by Audrey Watson(English) |
When we returned from having lived in Egypt for five to six years, we first went to live in the RE Barracks in Pennar. As it turned out, we were on the brink of war and it could have been thought that PD was a comparatively safe town. It was small…no big industries now - they had disappeared in the depression due to the closure of the dockyard in 1926. However, with three barracks - Llanion, Defensible Hill & Pennar (built to protect a thriving dockyard at one time) - and in 1931, an air-force flying-boat base inside the dockyard walls, it is no wonder the Germans hardly left us alone.
1939 - 1945 Our houses were eventually issued with Morrison Air-raid Shelters (a large metal cage), which we kept in the basement. I don’t think we ever used ours, preferring to take our chances! Some people dug out shelters in their back gardens and included cramped sleeping accommodation in them. Others had Anderson shelters, made of sheets of corrugated steel bolted together and put in a pit about one metre deep in the back garden.
School: At school (Pembroke Dock County School) things were changing…. The classes were mostly taken across the road to the vestries beneath a chapel, St Andrew’s - seemingly safer during an air-raid than the school. Sometimes there were three to four classes in the chapel at one time.
If we were in the school building when the ‘alert’ sounded, we would file down to a physics lab or any other lower designated room, where we were encouraged to sing; thus if needed, our singing would drown out the sounds of any bombs dropping. I can’t say we didn’t appreciate the diversion!
Lord Haw Haw: A while before the war started, a William Joyce (aka ‘Lord Haw Haw’, an Englishman, unfortunately) had lodged, temporarily (possibly at 9 London Road, PD), I believe, with a Mrs Jones. He used to go to ‘work’ each morning at 9am and return at 5pm. I understand he appeared to be a perfect gentleman and never put a foot wrong but wonder |
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Audrey Watson(English) continued |
what he did in that time! He must have gleaned much information during his stay in PD, giving himself time to get back to Germany before war was declared. After war broke out and ‘Lord Haw Haw’ started his broadcasts on the wireless, all this became common talk locally and I remember quite well the night he announced in one of his ‘talks’, hoping to demoralise us, “Tonight the German planes will be as busy as usual, so beware PD, we haven’t forgotten you!”
However, following the war, he was hanged as a traitor after facing a trial in England.
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Photo from a German Newspaper |
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Bombing of the Oil Tanks On 19th August 1940, my sister and I happened to be looking out of our bedroom window in Tremeyrick St (where we had moved to by now), when a German plane bombed the oil tanks at the top of Military Road, Pennar. A dreadful explosion followed….and then an inferno which lasted for 18 days. We saw it all happen. The local fire brigade, led by chief fire officer Mr Arthur Morris, with back-up from other counties, was heroic in fighting the blaze. Sadly, there were casualties. Because of the dreadful smell of the oil in the air, we were advised to fill basins, buckets, pans etc with water and put them around the house - the droplets of burning oil from the tanks settled on the water which had to be regularly changed. This went on as long as the tanks burnt. Here, I must say, the fireman were heroes but I was both saddened and disgusted to learn much later, that all the members of the fire-brigade had been recognised and were given medals, with the exception of Mr Morris. I am not sure whether long after Mr Morris had died, this affront was made good. I do hope so.
The Pier Hotel: On the night of 12 May 1941 a land mine scored a direct hit on the Pier Hotel, which was at the bottom of Tremeyrick St. It was all but demolished. I don’t know how many people were killed there but that night, in all, 32 people died in the town and a few hundred houses were damaged.
At that time, my older brother was on leave from the army, prior to returning to India. That night, we were all in the make-do shelter in our house in Tremeyrick St and my brother went out to help dig people out of the rubble. The house across our road was almost flattened but after some time of digging and voices calling, my brother was able was able reach a Mrs Lemon and dug her out. She was taken to hospital but I don’t know whether she survived.
At this same time, the Criterion Hotel, directly across from the Pier Hotel, was badly damaged and was later demolished.
Pembroke Dock - memories: The town of PD turned itself inside out to accommodate returning soldiers, heroes all, after the evacuation of Dunkirk. Some of the men had not taken off their clothes and boots for a week or more. We were asked to tear up white sheets to act as bandages, let the men sleep, give them food, baths etc… My mother hardly left the kitchen - cooking for the soldiers, almost a dozen at a time. That was the least we could do.
On the lighter side, I have vivid memories of the awful cardboard ice-cream at Woolworths, the blackout curtains, clothes rationing, the serving of tea and buns to the Americans, Canadians and other forces, usually carried out in the vestries under the church buildings and always supervised by a member of the county School’s staff! We never locked a door when leaving the house, as there was a wonderful camaraderie amongst the townsfolk.
I recall going up to my bedroom after a very heavy raid and finding my windowpane in pieces across my bed - the sticky tape still holding much of the glass together.
I remember the lone German ‘plane we watched heading for LLanion Barracks, machine gunning all the way up Tremeyrick St….the bullet marks could still be seen 20 years on.
I am sure the majority of youngsters growing up in the six years of the war, benefited from what they had witnessed, heard and worked out for themselves. I certainly think I did and now, in my very senior years, I can look back with heart-warming memories, of a town united.
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