Growing up in Liverpool during the war
I was born in 1936, three years before the start of World War II. I lived in Liverpool, a large city that was targeted by German bombers almost every night.
I can remember being woken up to the sound of a siren, the air raid warning that German planes were approaching. Search lights would light up the sky looking for the bombers. My parents would carry my siblings and myself to the Anderson Shelter to protect us from bomb blasts. The Anderson Shelter was a special shelter which was buried in the ground in our garden. The shelter had bunk beds, blankets and drinks for us and we would stay there until the ‘All Clear’ siren sounded and we knew that the danger was over. Our house was never bombed but a house further down my street was. Thankfully the bomb didn’t explode and the next day the bomb squad arrived to disarm it – it was quite exciting to us children to see a lot of army personnel, police and army vehicles surrounding the house.
Every house had to have black curtains on the windows to prevent any light from showing through them. If a window did happen to show a little bit of light shining through, the warden who patrolled the street at night would shout very loudly ‘PUT THAT LIGHT OUT!. This was very important because a German plan could spot a little bit of light from the sky and bomb the area.
Food was rationed and every man, woman and child had a ration book which contained points for eggs, butter, cheese, sugar and meat. The books would be registered to a shop of the parents’ choice. It was usually the Co-op shop (the wartime version of Tesco) and the ration book holder was given a special number (a bit like today’s bank cards) and you took your ration book to the shop and points were taken from the book to buy goods. Food rationing lasted for fourteen years, only ending on 4 July 1954, nine years after the end of World War II.
Shared by Irene Berry
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