Recollections of the war years in some small Devonshire communities recorded by members of Silverton village 'Upstream' group as part of a local history project. In common with most of the population it was from the wireless that we learned that war had been declared.If a family had a wireless it was a battery one which worked only if the accumulator was well charged. Care was taken at this time of national crisis to ensure we could receive BBBC news by carting the battery off regularly to the local garage to be charged, price 6 old pence. One of us, with no wireless at home, recalls her entire family trooping next door in Silverton to listen to the news. At East Allington the shopkeeper, when he heard the news, rushed through the village shouting:"It's war! Despite apprehension as to what war might mean, and particularly anxiety about those men already called up and the many about to be, for the adults it was just amatter of getting on with things. We might be in a rural background but there was work to do, and not least a harvest to bring in.

For the children it was very much life as usual: school, then play in the lanes, fields and gardens in beautiful September weather.anthropologie shower curtain knockoff The arrival of evacuess from London, Plymouth, Bristol, Exeter brought the war to our door. letra da musica blue curtain fallsBilleting officers came round to see what rooms we had. waverly curtains kohlsOn arrival children with some mothers and teachers were taken to the parish hall to await allocation. vivan curtains from ikeaSome of the more canny local ladies went and made their choice. shower curtain rings b&q

Mostly though it was a knock on the door and:"Here are your evacuees, Mrs X". The poor souls were tired, disoriented, forlorn. umbra curtain rod directionsThe locals too were somewhat apprehensive but most people on both sides tried hard to make the best of a bad job. curtains celbridgeHappy and lasting relationships developed between evacuees and host families. Many evacuees loved life in rural Devon and stayed for years, or even the rest of their lives. One determined lad liked life in Silverton so much that when his school returned to London he found his way back to the village and worked on a farm. Others were less happy and quickly returned to their homes preferring German bombs to the quiet and isolation of the countryside.There could be friction between evacuee mothers and the local women.For the most part it was simply that they did not understand each other's very different way of life.

Inevitably so great an influx of evacuees caused logistical problems. One family had eight evacuees crammed into their modest house in Cullompton. When the soldier father came home unexpectedly on a forty eight hour pass, the mother's initial reaction was: "Heavens! There's no bed space available!" Overcrowding at school was a problem. At Silverton village school a big room was sub-divided by a curtain. There might be noisy woodwork going on one side of it, and 'sums' the other side. The girls of the Middle School in Tiverton had to make room for the girls of Devonport High School when Plymouth was bombed. The Middle Schools also welcomed a group of Jewish teenagers who had escaped the Nazis in Europe. We had no real idea of what these clever, serious young people suffered. One of us was herself evacuated from one part of Devon to another. She lived at East Allington in the Slapton Sands area which was commandeered prior to D-Day as a training ground for the US Army. Her family was given summary notice to pack up and leave.

They finished up in Silverton where the only accommodation available was a derelict cottage with no mains services, but lots of owls' nests which had to be carted away on farm wagons. Bombs did, of course, rain on Devon towns. Mothers-to-be in the maternity ward of Exeter hospital during the blitz were given enamel bowls and blankets to wear on their heads as protection. Silverton families stood on their doorsteps and watched the sky turn red as Exeter, some seven miles away, burned. Sometimes fleeing enemy aircraft jettisoned their bombs in local fields. The craters were a magnet for the locals seeking souvenirs. One memory involves a crater,a farmer and a dead cow. When a bomb fell in the farmer's field his reaction was: "No point wasting that hole" and he buried the dead cow in it. He also salvaged the tail fin of the bomb and drove it round the local area for all and sundry to marvel at. He was immensely proud of his souvenir. We all admitted, somewhat apologetically, that the war barely touched our lives.

Certainly to the children it brought more excitement than fear. The coming of the American army caused a great stir. The British troops who took over our towns and villages initially were suddenly replaced by an entirely different breed of soldier with better quality uniforms, far better pay, soft, squishy boots and an endless supply of chewing gum. Dances organised in parish halls brought a whole new dimension to the social life of the girls. One Fourth of July celebration in Silverton involved wonders such as freshly fried do'nuts, rides on military vehicles and even a radio link between Silverton and Bradninch allowing villagers to chat to each other. Silverton lads learned that Americans love roasted chestnuts so they gathered bags of nuts at Killerton. In return the soldiers cooked them up a large and delicious meal. When an American plane crahed at Silverton the lone sentry left to guard the wreck was overwhelmed by excited local lads rushing to have a look. Short of shooting one of them he was quite at a loss, so simply let them go ahead and crawl over the plane, even to sitting in the cockpit being pilots for a while.

Then, suddenly, as D_Day approached they were all gone. Towns and villages fell uncannily quiet. For days on end a convoy of trucks full of soldiers made its way along the A38 at Cullompton. So many young soldiers off to the beautiful Devon coast to prepare for the killing fields of Normandy. Some Devon-American ties have been maintained. Some girls married US soldiers. Americans and their families return to visit. Our over 90 year old member recently had a visit from a former US soldier who brought his family to look at Silverton. We are hoping he will look at this website and contribute his side of the story. In fact this is exactly what happened and Homer Barnwell of Jacksonville Alabama added the following to our reminiscences: I was one of many teenage U.S.soldiers who arrived in England in December, 1943. I stayed until June 1944. I had to adjust to cold, foggy weather, as it was all new to me. We trained at Silverton all day and some nights. We had very little free time to visit and tour the town.