When you hear about the war, you think it is all bad and everyone had such a terrible time, but that’s not at all true. A lot of people had a lot of fun during the war, especially the children. The little boys used to hang around with each other in a big gang and used to hang around half blown up buildings and closed down factories. They were very badly behaved. They went round smashing and breaking things. Some gangs of children like the gang of boys on the video seemed to think it was funny to catch and gag other children who were on their own and make them answer their questions. But even though there were a lot of people having fun at this traumatic time, there were a lot of women sat at home on their own waiting to hear from their men who had gone out to war. They dreaded seeing the postman walking down the street towards their house in case they were coming to deliver bad news of their husbands or loved ones. Some men who were too old to fight in the war were made homing guards and they had to keep an eye on their own town and make sure everything and everyone was OK. They also had to make sure there were no trespassers and if there were they had to deal with them appropriately.
When a German landed in their town on the video, they were pleased because they could use the parachute to make their underwear because they were short on material. The material that they used to use was all needed for various things during the war. The material used for the parachute was perfect for the underwear. The German man was taken away by the homing guard, and the homing guard was talking to the German man even though he didn’t understand a word he was saying.
Whenever there was a bomb raid the sirens would go off and everyone would have to get to a bomb shelter as quickly as possible but there was one bomb on the video that hit the town before everyone had a chance to get to their bomb shelters, some houses were half blown down; others just had their windows and doors blown in but it was still terrible, and after the blast everyone still got straight back up again and went out to their bomb shelters in case they hit again. The next morning it was discovered that one woman had been hit and killed by the blast, and her daughter was left on her own because her father was out at war so she was extremely upset.
During the war a lot of the children were evacuated because their parents didn’t want them to get injured or killed, plus both their parents had to work anyway. The men went out to fight and the women either prepared the equipment for the men, took over the mens old jobs and towards the end of the war, the women fought in the war as well. Also the children are to young to fight in the war even though they probably thought they could and they can’t exactly fly a plane and the parents can’t leave the child at home on it’s own because he or she wouldn’t know how to look after themselves properly. It wouldn’t be fair on the child to do anything else other than send them away apart from if one of the parents was at home the whole time to keep an eye on their child.
When the children were taken away, they each had a label attached to them saying who they are and where they come from. They were all lined up in a row and people came and chose someone and took them away. The children didn’t have a say in the matter. Nearly all the brothers and sisters and friends were split up and left on their own, not knowing if they will ever see them again. Some children were sent to nice families and had a better time than they thought they would, but others didn’t. The parents never really wanted to do this but they had no choice if they wanted their child to survive. Some children were sent and chose by families and people who they really didn’t like and didn’t get alone with and all they wanted to do was go home to their mummy but that wasn’t possible. The war caused lots more problems than just the fact that lost of towns had been blown up.
During the war the government realized that the Germans only had one aim and that was to bomb the British people till they give up and the government knew that morale had to be kept high during this very difficult time. Newspapers were not allowed to show pictures of mutilated bodies and smashed houses. Reports and photographs concentrated on the heroism of the rescue services and everyone’s determination to carry on as normally as possible, working together in good humor. Some women joined the war to help out the men. Some joined the land army and others joined the Air Transport Auxiliary and flew newly built planes to air bases. Some of the women carried things like food and clothes to the people who were fighting; others carried things like weapons and bombs.
The men and women were encouraged to join the army and help save their country. Nearly every adult in Britain helped out in some way during the war. Posters and adverts were put in newspapers to help encourage the women go out and help the men fight. A lot of women surprisingly took a lot of notice to these adverts.
Most people did as they were told during the war, apart from the children who did the complete opposite. The children were always getting into trouble and going places where they shouldn’t go.
All the people had the same experiences in some ways but not in others. For example everyone was bombed; some more than others but everyone was bombed; but the poor people who lived on the streets didn’t have as much protection because they didn’t have a bomb shelter in their back garden. They didn’t even have a garden. Also people had different experiences because lots of people lost friends and family, but others who were very lucky didn’t loose anyone.
The men had very different experiences to the women, especially towards the beginning of the war. The men had to go out and fight for their country but the women stayed at home to do work; but towards the end of the war, women fought as well.
It was scary for everyone, not knowing whether they were going to live or die and not knowing if they will ever see the rest of their family ever again.
Some people did suffer more than others; for example some people were hurt, injured and even killed. There were some people who couldn’t get the treatment they needed and a lot of friends and families were lost for a lot of people and they were left to live on their own. I think everyone suffered in some way during the war, but some more than others.
