You're among friends here. You can tell us what you think. There is a movie available on Youtube called "Ike: the war years" It covered a lot about Kay Summersby as Ike's driver and their relationship
Just spotted this item as browsing this thread and whilst I was born just at wars end I lived for a few years with my grandparents near Stokes Bay just round the corner from where the "Mulberry Harbour" was built and remember my mother telling of delivering mail to the area but not knowing exactly what was being built and what for. They also had an air raid shelter in the back yard consisting of half a steel culvert covered in dirt and rocks which whist not perhaps as badly needed as in London certainly just down the road from Portsmouth the home of the British navy probably got their fair share of bombing. I do remember in my very early youth seeing the remains of a bombed out movie theater on the main street of Gosport and the remains of various fortifications out near the bay many of which I believe were originally from WW1
I have some personal experience here. My wife and I rented a house on Higgins Mill Pond in Dorchester County, Maryland. It had not been kept up to its former standards and was affordable for us. It was the house where that famous couple had spent some time together. Add to that that we are both 'Dwights'. I think this means that I'm going to have a Kay in my life at some point. I hope my Kay is as pretty as his.
Hi Don, Do you happen to recall how deep those back yard shelters were ? I mean to say, how far down did the home owner have to dig ? I can't begin to imagine how frightened the average civilian mut have been during air raids. Especially in cities and near obvious targets.
Well Richard I can only tell you exactly what the one in Grandpa's back yard was like. It consisted of a steel culvert about 6 or 8' around probably around 6' long buried half way below ground level with the removed dirt and rocks piled on top in the back corner of the garden, In my time it was Grandpas garden implement shed and grandmas rockery garden. The coal bunker was tight against the one end and steps down and doors at the other.
Do you happen to know if neighbors would help build it IF the home owner was too old or a single lady ?
They where called Anderson Shelters. The one we had was concrete and half buried in the garden same as the one in the link. Concrete shelters – Anderson Shelters.
Thank you for the photos of Anderson shelters. Did the gov't make the metal ones and give them free to home owners ?
I remember the one in our back yard as similar to the metal one shown, how they got it there given the limited access I dont know or perhaps they assembled one there. Grandpa was a policeman in Portsmouth Dockyard across the other side of the harbour so perhaps he had a little 'pull'!
the metal type shelter came in pieces. In my research, I discovered that the official name was "sectional steel shelter." Quote from research: "Anderson shelters were quite simple to build. They were made from six curved panels of corrugated (wavy) steel that were bolted together at the top" From the photos shown, it looks like any healthy adult could quite easily lift and carry each individual piece. AND it looks like it would be easy to carry each piece through the house and into the garden if there was not a walkway around the side of the house.
Thanks for that info Richard. Here in Canada they still make a similar bolt together structure for assembly by the farmer (with much larger sections) to keep his equipment (and tractors its that large) in, there is one at my neighbors just a few hundred feet down the road!
Yes, the larger units were called Nissen Huts and invented by the British during WW 1. They were dramatically scaled down for use as Anderson Shelters. During WW2, the Anderson Shelters were given free of charge to British citizens who earned less than 250 pounds / year. If they earned MORE than 250 pounds there was a fee of 7 pounds. Of course, that was 1940's money. In the 1940,s 7 pounds is equal to today's money of 470 pounds. (sorry, my laptop doe not have a "pound" sign) The Ultra large Nissan huts were widely used by the U.S. during WW2, and and called Quanset huts by the U.S. military. The ultra large units could be assembled by a 6 man team in one day using basic hand tools. If you view many videos of U.S. military bases of WW2 you are sure to see how large they could get. The ultra large units could get big enough to feed hundreds of men in one sitting. And, of course, they were used to house equipment, barracks and offices etc etc.