Liverpool's Children in the Second World War by Pamela Russell

Author:Pamela Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Liverpool’s Children
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Dangerous Games for Boys… and Girls

Although many schools had reopened a short time after the beginning of the war, they were often open for limited hours, perhaps morning or afternoon only. It was impossible for the authorities to keep track of children when some were evacuated, others were at home. There was also constant coming and going as children returned home and then, perhaps, went away again. This situation offered plenty of opportunities for freedom and adventure which some children, especially boys, were quick to appreciate.

Jim Williams, who had returned from evacuation for the winter of 1940, remarks on the difference in the experience of a child compared with the adult perception of events. Jim enjoyed a freedom that would have been unlikely in peacetime:

Well, the war was getting a bit heated. My Dad was away at sea and the Battle of the Atlantic was at its height, but for me, it was great… 1940 saw some air raids but the May Blitz of 1941 was the worst thing I’ve experienced and I did seven years as a Naval Gunner and was in the Korean war, but this was something else… the city was destroyed, but us kids were out collecting shrapnel. And the schools were closed so we weren’t too upset, but I can only imagine what the older people were going through. Well, anyway, we got on with life. Plenty of bombed houses to play in… a thing to remember was the Yanks coming over and us kids going down to the Pierhead to meet them and asking for chewing gum off them and they always obliged, so we were happy.

Peter McGuiness remembers that the morning after an air-raid:

It was very exciting for young children, boys, in particular, to look for shrapnel and to take a large piece into school gave considerable kudos. My school was bombed, but to me this just meant an extra holiday. From time to time I saw a lot of bombed houses, but I do not remember seeing anyone injured.

Lawrence Whittaker was only six in 1941. Nevertheless, like most boys, he was keen to find some shrapnel or other souvenirs:

One day, I found a bullet, only about half an inch long and put it in my pocket to gloat over it later. In those days, it was backyard lavatories and when I was down there later in the day, I brought the bullet out of my pocket and was looking at it – it looked like a liquorice torpedo and I put it in my mouth and accidentally swallowed it! I didn’t tell anyone as I thought I might get into more trouble or even get a good hiding for doing it! I never saw it again!

In Wavertree, Peter Robinson recalls:

…picking up shrapnel after a raid and it was still warm – we played in bombed houses and shops, always chased by the wardens. We never knew what danger was – just fun in those days - we loved the black-out. There

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