Memories of war - meeting my first German and the Blitz

Prompted by our recent pieces on VE Day, BT reader Tony Everett decided to write to us about his memories of a wartime childhood in Bristol

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At the age of eight in 1938, while my friends at school were reading the Dandy and Beano I was perusing my Dad's Daily Mail and realised what a nasty man Hitler was.

So I covered his name in spit at each of the frequent times he was mentioned. When my Dad tried to read his sodden paper he not at all pleased with me.

The whole country prepared for war. I thought it was all exciting. Gas raids were expected on the civilian population, and we were all issued with gas masks.

When I put mine on I found that if I blew into it there were rude noises. This was great fun. We had to have them with us at all times and took them to school each day.

Poles were erected in the roads with horizontal square boards attached. They were coloured yellow but would change colour if there was a gas attack. My Mum made our black-out curtains, and diagonal strips of brown paper were stuck to all our windows and we were assured that this would stop the glass from breaking if we were bombed.

When war was declared in September 1939 it was no surprise to me. In my little war, nothing seemed to happen until the Battle of Britain started. Every day in the upper corners of our newspaper there was a “score” showing how many German planes had been shot down against our fewer losses. To me it was a super game and we seemed to be winning.