World War 2

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

long gap. Some of the boys who were in the R.A.F. at Wattisham joined the club and they would tell us during the course of the match where they had been to that morning and the distances covered in a short space of time. Little did I know then that in a year or two I would be doing a very similar thing under somewhat different circumstances.

Needham also had a swimming pool at that time, near the mill on the Coddenham Road. A rough galvanised shelter was put up on the river Felixstowe 1939 bank and this small piece of river was for bathers and beginners and the ‘hole’ which was nearer Chester’s saw mill was for divers and the more proficient. Some of the lads would bring a bar of soap and have their weekly ‘tub’ in the river. Not many bathrooms in Needham at that time. Which reminds me of the night soil collection and all the fun and games attached thereto e.g. Harry losing his jacket with his supper in the pocket. This horrible business was going on in Needham until the 50’s.

War was declared on Sunday, Sept. 3rd 1939. I joined the Local Defence Volunteers and was issued with an armband, we did rifle drill etc. This later became the Home Guard attached to the Suffolk Regiment. We were issued with uniform and rifle and did duty three times a week from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. plus siren calls. Our platoon had its headquarters at Hawks Mill. Air raids were frequent, the news

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The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

was far from good from the various fronts and I felt that I should be doing more than I was doing. The only way open to me was to volunteer for aircrew duties as I was in a reserved occupation. I put this to Mum and Dad and they both understood how I felt. Before I offered my services I went into Ipswich Hospital in June 1940 for a varicose vein operation. In the same ward were soldiers from Dunkirk and a young R.A.F. navigator flying Blenheims from Wattisham who was badly injured when a shell exploded under his seat during a raid on the bridge at Maanstricht, Holland. I was discharged from hospital but almost immediately went down with thrombosis. At the same time Mick was sick with something that was affecting his breathing very badly. He lay in his cot quite close to our bed and you could hear him fighting for breath and in a weak little voice saying ‘water, water’. This was a terribly anxious time for us all and especially for Mum and to a certain extent Jean too because on top of all the worry they had all the work to do. It transpired that Mick had empyema and this meant an operation to have one of his ribs cut away and the lung attended to, a very serious operation but thank God he pulled through and after a month in hospital was on the mend again.

All the things that happen with war were going on now – black out, rationing, restrictions, the wailing of the sirens, the drone of aircraft going out and coming in, the evacuation of Dunkirk etc. and we were trying to live as normally as possible. Of course business was completely different, the size of the staff had been reduced and several of the younger ones had been called up. Work consisted mainly of repairs and maintenance to farm buildings or premises producing food, building pill-boxes all over the county for the government. Some were in desolate places miles from anywhere.

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