Chapter 2

Hitler, raving, ranting, rattling his sword;
Heard it before, Britain was untoward.
This time it looked as if there might be war'
Rationing for all of us, not much in store.

Chickens dad bought to help in our diet;
A cockerel too, it was never quiet.
Sussex breed, crossed with Rhode Island Reds,
The former big, good for meat, later for eggs.

Fed on bran dad got from work on the docks.
Enough for days from trousers tucked in socks.
Mixed with scraps from dad's vegetable plot,
Boiled spud peelings, that's all they got.

War was declared when I was about three,
Nothing seemed to happen, just wait and see.
Dad was called up, deafness decided his way
On ACK Guns, made him stay in the U.K.

On leave he'd bring him his three o three;
Unloaded, outside his room, if fascinated me.
Hitler's troops into Austria did just walk,
As usual there was lots of talk.

Czechoslovakia next came under the boot;
Not much need for Hitler's troops to shoot.
At last we decided to make a token stand;
Chamberlain "peace in our time" paper in hand!

Grinning, waving useless paper in the air;
"Peace in our time?" But Hitler just didn't care.
War took off. Soon we knew it was true;
Poland invaded, there was nothing we could do.

Still we in Britain felt safe in our beds
While Poland was divided between Nazis and Reds.
For Europe the phony war ended in May,
Blitzkrieg across the land started that day.

Denmark. Netherlands, also Belgium circum,
Britain and France not yet under the thumb.
All this fuss, to me far away.
On peddle car I'd just play.

France's huge army, the fortified Maginot line,
Surely more than Hitler could chew this time.
Britain's expeditionary force holding the left,
Plans of the French, none, completely bereft.

Some troops fought hard, didn't give in;
Again seemed the Germans must win.
The utter defeat suffered by the French;
Troops to the channel, their last trench.

All this battling meant little to me.
After all, I was only three.
Our troops, many French, trapped at Dunkirk;
Enemy hoped we'd sue for peace - didn't work.

To this end Hitler held his troops back,
Gave time to Britain to take in the slack.
We sent destroyers, sunk, suffered all sorts;
Anything that floated from channel ports.

Anything that floated then came the call.
300,000 men got off - it was a miracle.
All equipment, everything had to be left behind,
Britain needed all the metal she could find.

All was needed, aluminum pans to garden iron fences.
Our country was in dire straights, no pretense.
To me it was my pride and joy,
Love that comes only to a little boy.

I loved my secondhand peddle car
More than anything, except my ma!
She was small, tidy and neat;
Always working, rushed off her feet.

Up and down the path I would go,
Always at the pelt, never slow.
It was a steamtrain, like grandpa drove;
Uncle's warship, the world they rove.

Sometimes a corner I would miss,
Put right by mum's gentle kiss.
Fixed by dad, whom I seldom saw.
Away, to do with a worldwide war!

In the beginning the war was false.
Each side feeling the others pulse.
Then in '40 came the real war;
German forces into Europe did pour.

The tactic on our side didn't work;
France lost - weapons left in Dunkirk.
The emergency was so very real,
Shortages of alloys and of steel.

Give us you railings, your pots and pans!
Used for the war efforts were the plans?
My mum had to tell me, her little boy
"Darlin' you must give up your beloved toy!"

She explained to me through my tears,
Quieted me and my boyhood fears,
My life would never be quite the same,
Until she told me my car had helped build a plane.

Later I watched dogfights in the sky.
Then I knew all the reasons why.
Telling all others, I never tire,
"That's my plane up there, that Spitfire!"

The news media, cinemas and the radio
Would downplay and ridicule the German foe.
They bombed our steamers, fishers and tramps,
Showing screaming stokes diving, as if on ramps.

All this happened in the North Sea. South Coast
Hardly any hits, our media would boast.
In the channel ports it got real bad,
Little nutritious herring fish to be had.

Having studied the European situation
Powers-that-be ordered mass evacuation.
Hitler didn't let his Panzers go;
What might have happened we'll never know.