WESTBOURNE
A village history in West Sussex
While living at The Grange like many village lads the preparation for D-Day was an exciting time. One evening there was frantic knocking at the back door with the news that a parachute was coming down. Our garden looked towards the cricket field and it appeared to be coming down beyond there. As my father was in the Home Guard he hurried to get his rifle. Before he got outside there was a terrific bang and the door was blown off its hinges. It was a German parachute mine. When we were allowed to view the the field all we found was a large crater. There was no metal or parachute debris so someone had been before us. It may have been targeted for the troops in the woods, it had probably strayed from elsewhere or released at the wrong location.
One group of servicemen was stationed in the woods between Hollybank Lane and Emsworth Common Road. I particularly remember helping them reinforce the road by breaking stones for hard-core. somehow I slipped and gashed my hand on a flint. They took me to the canteen put on a field dressing and gave me a cup of tea and cake. Better still they took me back to The Grange in an ambulance that scared my mother. My "war wound" is still visible after all these years.
In the field next to the common some tanks may have been exercising for the grass was all churned up into turves. They were soon stacked up into a barricade and used to play soldiers storming a gun emplacement. In the next field up was a group of trenches that remained for a while after the war.
At about this time most of Emsworth Common Road was lined with tanks and it was exciting to visit them. At the junction with the road to Stansted the woods were filled with troops including a canteen. They were very kind to me supplying tea - without sugar or milk. I remember one evening in the field opposite sitting under a tree talking to a soldier. Perhaps he had a son like me he sadly missed. The next day on 6th June was my 10th birthday and I went to see them again. They had all gone; D-Day was in operation. I did not know at the time, but my father was involved in the war effort with the building of Mulberry Harbour project in Portsmouth Dockyard.
After D-Day I was still reminded of the war by some Italian prisoners of war. They had a shack North of the village off Woodberry Lane close to Cockburn Cottage. They were working in the woods and made baskets that they sold in the village for onions. I cannot recall for certain, but they may have had a heavy horse for pulling logs out of the woods. They were always friendly as perhaps they were remembering their families back home.
Looking back now I was an infant school lad who wandered alone among these events. I was never afraid and my mother would never worry about me being late home. How very different now in the 21st Century when I have worried about my children and grandchildren.
Finally one way the children helped the war effort was the collecting of conkers and rose hips. Since then I have always had roses in the garden and my daughter occasionally makes rose-hip syrup; delicious!
D-DAY PREPARATIONS