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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1941-01-16, Page 7* raSHSBSSfflWI'M II Thursday, January 16, 1941 u' Sales Up Over Last Year - Earnings. Cover Dividend Requirements go to a cinema the war is on. I do not to he shut inside whilst ;e now, or this letter will u in time for Christmas it go there on Sun- Personally, I have made up my that I will not whilst having Salvage workers are shown moving through the i called “the heart of the capital,” and much of it debris left by the Nazi fire-bomb attack on the was left in ruins by the shower of incendiary bomos heart of London. This section of the city is often1 unloosed on it by Nazi raiders. WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES interesting news FROM ENGLAND SALVAGE WORKERS CLEAN VP AFTER FIRE-BOMB ATTACK ON THE HEART OF LONDON ....; .lISBt % - -ui r .,JL| We would be very pleased to have ■any who receive letters from the Old Land hand them to far publication. ' The following letter was received by Mrs. George* Williams from a friend in her old home of Basingstoke. We are sure that our readers will find it most informative. 44 Saruin Hill, Basingstoke, December 3rd, 1940 Dear Emily: Only three weeks to Christmas, and I have been trying to get a letter off to you for weeks. I expect you hear from one or the other here, from time to time, but you must be wondering at these times how we are all keeping, and in case you •have had no up-to-date news of late, I will tell you what I can. If the cen­ sor sees fit to cut out some of what I write, I cannot help it, but I cannot tell you anything of. military import- • ance, even- if I wanted to, because there is nothing to tell. I shall tell you of some of our experiences here,- during the past four months, but I should imagine it will not be censored too severely, because it will be nearly a month staler still, by the time you read this. First of all, we at home are all safe, as are Miss Wiggins, Clarice Parnell, and, I think, everyone else you knew. About 14 or, 15 people have been kill­ ed here by enemy action, but I think you would not-know any of them, with the exception of Louis Doman, one of the family of painters and decorators. Your brothers and their families are all safe too. Basingstoke bears some signs of having been visited by the gentle Hun, but we are still smiling. Our first experience was in August last, and that was easily our worst so far. We were not so used to sirens in those days, and when they sounded just after tea time, in broad daylight, no one bothered very much, although many went to shelter. We heard a large formation of planes approaching, and presently several came out of the clouds, saw the town beneath them (no one thinks, for a moment that we were their real objective) and dropped a number of H.E. bombs. People watching saw the bombs drop, and the rest of us heard them! I was on cjuty at the Report Centre at the time, and in about two minutes we knew that they had dropped in Church Square, Church Lane, Church Street and Burgess Road, above the station (probably the railway was the real ob­ jective). Well, I am afraid you^would have .a shock if you saw Church Square and Church Lane now. The - houses are either all down or so bad­ ly damaged that they will have to come down. No one is living there of course. I do not suppose you have ev- *er seen premises blasted by -high ex­ plosives, and I hope you never will. Plate glass windows as well as house windows were broken for streets around — there was something to sweep up I can tell you. Unfortunate­ ly about 14 people were killed and be­ tween 20 and 30 injured. One bomb fell bang between St. Michael’s and , the Wesleyan Church, in the roadway, and so of course several passersby were killed outright. Others were bur­ ied under the debris of several of the houses. Both churches were badly damaged of course, but St. Michael’s has been partially re-opened for services. Ours, unfortunately,, will remain closed for the duration of the war, and our ser­ vices are being held in the school room. The front of ours was rather badly pitted and knocked about by the bomb fragments, and it may be that part of the front will have to be rebuitt It is no use trying to put that Iw || jp ilSfe J A view taken from St. Paul’s roof indicates .the damage done to Paternoster Row' in the fire-bomb raid on London, Dec, 29. The domed building in the REAR is the Old Bailey, criminal court building. kind of thing right now, as it might happen again, and besides all the church and chapel authorities all over the country will have such a bill to footy that, even if it were possible to obtain materials and labour, which it is not, it would be too big an under­ taking to try to put premises right now. u Another incident occured a few .weeks later, then two or three bombs fell in the Solbys Road area. No one killed, and only one or two , houses wrecked, but a number of course, that will have to have quite a bit done to them. Again, no one thinks that we were the original objective, blit prob­ ably the raider was just ambling ar­ ound, and coming out of the clouds, saw the town beneath, Open towns and civilians, are, of course, legitimate objectives to the Hun, so that we are always open to get a packet. Again a fortnight ago, .1 was in the town, when Jerry came ovbr and drop­ ped a couple. We had just had the sirens sounded, and people were go­ ing on with their business and keeping a weather eye open (although it was dusk), when we heard him above, and suddenly we heard the swish and whistle of the bombs, and I went into a huddle on the pavement with' two or three soldiers and.several women. I do not know who was at the bottom of the pile, but I was resting comfort­ ably on a .soldier’s back! We haven’t much money, bitt we do see life! Hav­ ing picked ourselves up, we decided We were none the worse for it al­ though there had been sundry bangs and crashes and plate glass windows- were falling all over the street. The bombs had actually fallen several streets away — both on soft grass land, -.and consequently there were no persons killed, and only slight injuries to a few others —• about a dozen in all. ■- Several houses were, of course, rendered almost or quite uninhabit- able, and dozens Of others had wind­ ows blown out and slates or tiles wrenched off — our roof lost about a couple of dozen tiles. Good thing it did not rain for a couple of days! You must not think from all this that we are a danger area! I do not think we Sometimes, it is quite obvious that there are numbers of aircraft above, and the air simply vibrates with the noise of their engines, We go about, underneath that load of trouble, care­ ful not to show any lights of course, and hope for the best. On the night of the Coventry 1 aids, the planes came over in droves like partridges, or should'it be ‘coveys’. Guns were bang­ ing about all round the district, and the searchlights would have made a very good show at the Crystal Palace on a Bank Holiday. It is the night bombing that will be such a problem, is in fact a problem already. One feels a bit ‘jittery’ from time to time, sitting indoors listening to them droning ov­ er, they sound so much more ominous at night, but then one says to oneself “To blazes with Hitler” and feels bet­ ter for it. People are getting a bit fed up hear­ ing that our Air Force concentrate on military objectives in Germany. We know it is necessary that their factor­ ies, oil refineries and other targets, should be smashed, but at the same time, when one sees people from Southampton, Bristol, Coventry, etc., and we have had some from all places among our own friends and relatives, one feels that only when the German civilians are bombed to billyo, having to see their homes blown sky high, and their employment taken from them that they will begin to See the error of their ways. If we get the better of them this time, and we must, I guess the ordin­ ary man in the street will see to it that there is no more of this business pos­ sible in Germany. Smash the devils till they cannot recover, and break up their country into states so that they cannot mass together again. Tell your people over there they have got to be as hard as nails against the Huns this time, .and if they don’t” agree, tell them to come over here and have a week or two of intensive bombing! At the moment, we are not feeling any great inconvenience in the matter of food and clothing. The butter, sug­ ar and tea rations are really sufficient, although of course they do not permit of lavish entertaining, and I see from the papers that we are likely to have the butter cut down even more. Well, we shall have to put up with it, and anyhow dripping toast is nice, We when nights nights tivity over Germany, but it will also limit Jerry’s activity over here. You know we never envisaged the night bombing that is occurring, at least the ordinary man in the street did not. We somehow imagined that there ’ would be daylight warnings when those who could would go to shelter, bombs would be dropped and the raid* ers would clear off. So far as we here are concerned, we imagined that there would be big raids possibly on South­ ampton or London, and that we, being between the places, would come in for some bombing when the raiders were returning home after being driven off. That too, was of course, our idea, be­ fore the French gave in and the Ger­ mans got hold of the Channel ports, Instead, it is hot a bit like that. We do not get daylight raids except in the most important areas, London, and the South and Southeast districts, and at night Jerry only attacks, in large numbers that is, the areas you have heard about lately, that is London, Bristol, Coventry, Southampton and the like. For the rest, the night bomb­ ing is done mainly by single planes, snooping around the countryside. For some weeks prior to Se large scale night attacks on the towns mentioned, are really, because there is no great target here, but you see, when old Jer­ ry comes poking about in the clouds, it is very difficult for the fighters in the daytime, or the searchlights and guns at night, to spot him. The sky is a very big place, as we are getting to know now. On another occasion, fairly recently, I was walking back from lunch, and heard a plane, then a crash, and look­ ing over the houses saw a great col­ umn of earth and debris going up in the air. Another big bomb had been dropped by a Jerry plane which came snooping over and had a Spitfire on his tail. Two old ladies were killed that time, and a number of houses very .badly damaged. That, I believe, is the sum total of our. damage actually in the town, and what use it will be to the Germans I don’t quite know. It certainly has not broken the morale of the townspeople, although naturally, we don’t like that kind of thing, to say the least of it. But it is no use worrying, although it is difficult sometimes not to do so. One always feels that one can look af­ ter onself, but it is the friends and de­ pendents that one worries about. I, with Mother and Dad at home, 80 and 84 years old respectively, feel a great responsibility, and it is the same with other people, and with people who have children. But there it is, we are all in It together, and Jerry does not differentiate between one and the oth­ er. In the day time, life goes on very much as normally, and it is easy to keep cheerful in daylight, but the nights are, I must admit, a bit trying. The sirens sound now, immediately after dusk nearly, every evening, and we get “All clear”' any time between II p.m. or midnight and the early hours. We get them so frequently now, that people just go about their usual occupations in the evening, merely keeping eyes (where possible in the blackout) and ears open more than usual. Soon after the “Alert” is sounded we hear him coming, usually flying very high and droning away to some distant place in the Midlands or elsewhere, where he is going to attack, He we used to get Jerry over every night from dark until the early hours, would go droning over the town, and one 'would hear crashes, bangs and wallops all over the countryside. No­ thing was dropped in the town here, but there are quite a number of craters in nice open fields! We used to hesi­ tate about going to bed, because we never knew when he would make a mistake and drop one on the town! After a particularly noisy night, we would all compare notes the following morning, and curse Jerry fluently, and after a quiet night we used to get sus­ picious and wonder where he had got to. We have more siren warnings now than we used to, but often, after all the Civil Defence people have got to their posts, thgy may have to stay put for eight or nine hours, whilst Jerry, as on. the night of the Coventry raid, passes and repasses overhead. For reasons best known to the powers that be, this was not considered to be a danger area, in fact, people came here to stay from the danger areas, and therefore the -vast majority of the houses have no shelters. Most of us have to rely on .the the stairs, which, in cept where there is near hit, has proved place in the house. walls are all down and the debris of the house piled high, people are very often dug out practically uninjured from under the stairs. Thousands of people sleep under, the stairs, or put the children to bed there. In any case one always stands more chance on the ground floor, because the blast goes upward and spreads out. Poor Southampton — you will have seen accounts of the damage there. Damn and Blast the Germans I say, and I would have no pity.whatsoever on them or their towns! I would like to see them bombed to blazes. They did not know what it was in the last war — only the French and the Belg­ ians and the London people knew what air bombardmfent was like, and until the Germans have had a taste of it themselves, we shall always be get­ ting this trouble. It docs not do to think too much of towns that one knew so well, having great chunks of them in ruins. But, my word, if and when we get the upper hand we ought to see to it that they pay, and pay cupboard under many cases, ex~ a direct Or very to be the safest Even when the through the nose. I am fraid I cannot bring myself to look upon this busi­ ness in a Christianlike spirit. How can one look at it like that, when one sees and hears of people just like our­ selves, and little children and old peo­ ple, who ask nothing better than to have a seat by the fire in their own little homes, bombed and blasted out into the streets and having to walk about in the bitter weather. I know there are arrangements, and very ade­ quate arrangements, made in the bombed and in the reception areas for these people, but even that at best is only a temporary measure. The fact remains that these people have lost all they possess in the world. And it might at any moment, be any one of us called upon to face up >to the same thing. They are cheerful and resolute enough, Heaven, knows, and do not grumble at all, and that very cheer­ fulness makes it rather worse if'any­ thing. When I go past the damage that has been done here, fractional as it is, compared with larger towns, I see absolutely red. Well, this is a nice cheery Christ­ mas letter, isn’t it? How are you and your family? All well and happy, I hope. Mother and Dad are fairly well, considering their ages. Neither of them can go out, but they potter about the house. They do not worry unduly about the raids, which is a good thing, as I have to be out quite a lot. It is a queer thing, you know, but the old people and the children do not appear to be unduly perturbed. My brother is at Bristol — at the Bristol Aircraft factory — not a healthy spot you say? Well — there are as bad elsewhere, but natur­ ally we worry a bit until we hear from him, after a raid on the town. We have relatives also at Southampton, and in London, as have thousands of other people, and it is very worrying altogether, but we are all in it, so there it is. I do not really know what more news there is to tell you. Life goes on more or less normally of course, and we have been helped by most glorious weather —.the finest summer and autumn we have had for years, We should like to have a line from you when you have time, and some­ how, (D.V.) I will find time to an­ swer it. Most of my letters now, are PAGE SEVEN written on Sunday evenings. There are no evening services at mgst chur­ ches now, you know, because the black-out does not make it easy, es­ pecially for older people, to get about,, and also it is very difficult to concen­ trate, even in Church when ‘things* tire passing and repassing overhead., The cinemas are open on Sunday ev­ enings, but of course it is not every­ one who wishes to days, mind at all, fancy a raid i* on, I must cloi not reach yo — perhaps it will not even now — may be torpedoed, said she, cheerily. If it does I.hope the U-boat command­ er dives straight to the bottom, and is' eventually eaten by sharks!* *A11 good wishes for Christmas from Mother and myself, and with a New Yea’- more promising for all of us. Yours, E. Gibbons. GOODYEAR’S 39th YEAR WAS PROFITABLE With letter to shareholders enclos­ ing quarterly dividend cheques, Pres­ ident A. G. Partridge staled: “•I am pleased to advise that the thirtieth year of your Company has continued on a profitable basis, with our sales showing a very satisfactory increase over the previous year and our net earnings covering all dividend requirements, although—as I explain­ ed in my letter >to the shareholders un­ der date of October 1st—-our increased" business will not show the usual per­ centage of profit for the year.” “THE PUREST FORM IN WHICH TOBACCO CAN BE SMOKED.’* SWEET CAPORAL YOUR EYES NEED ATTENTION Our 25 Point Scientific Examin­ ation enables us to give you Clear, Comfortable Vision F. F. HOMUTH Optometrist Phone 118 Harriston A. H. McTAVISH, B.A. Tees water, Ontario Barrister, Solicitor, Notary Public and Conveyancer Office: Gofton House, Wroxeter ©very Thursday afternoon 1.30 to 4.30 and by appointment. Phone — Teeswater 120 J: MONUMENTS at first cost Having our factory equipped with the most modern machinery for the exe­ cution of high-class work, we ask you to see the largest display of monu­ ments of any retail factory in Ontario. AU finished by sand blast machines. We import all our granites from the Old Country quarries direct, in the rough. You can save all local deal­ ers’, agents’ and middleman profits by seeing us. E. J. Skelton & Son at West End Bridge—WALKERTON READY FOR DUTY AFTER CANADIAN TRAININGILL SPEED TO SUPPLY GUNSCANADIAN PLANTS OPEi th© Wy. degrees Fahrenheit. Ono of the huge forging presses in a Canadian gun plant is showh, LEFT, i as it squeezes a six-foot ingot into the rough blank Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, groat electric fusmu.j m v-....... > > •bubble with molten tn ly' v.20d »< iu «uwntsc» « “.aw —factum of imwy guns, This furnace, EIGHT, reduces of a gun 'barrel, nearly 14 feet In length, This pres* 10 liquid steel in ’throe hours w exerts < pressure of 2,500*tons to the inch, shall all feel better of course the days get longer and the shorter again. The shorter* will of course limit our air ac-"Tf“ This sextet of sergeant observer* la tt smalt t»atti smiling men, eager- ter action With the Moyal Mfr the contingent of trained airman just arrived in Force, wera photographed at theft headquarUri MOf the contingent w ~England from the training school* of Canada, The England.