The last vacation
The summer of 1940 was the last time that we, as a family, vacationed in Crail. Since WWII started in October of the year before, there were restrictions on travel; especially to the coast. On the way to Crail, we were stopped by a military patrol and were required to show our ID cards. To this day, I still remember my number - SLVZ/134/8; and believe it is still in my safe deposit box. Don’t ask me why it is there; a piece of memorabilia?
1940 was the year when the LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) were to be seen drilling with brooms, shovels, spades, axes, etc in the school yard. Britain was so ill prepared that it is a surprise that the country survived.
In that same year, while playing around the Castle Walk, the brother next oldest to me and I heard air raid sirens and, on looking across Roome Bay beyond which a naval air base was being constructed, we saw a German plane circling. At first it was thought that leaflets were being dropped until the boom of dropping bombs filled the air.
