Newport Stories:
Child at War

Terence Charles was a young boy at the outbreak of hostilities. This is his story.

Terence Charles was a young boy at the outbreak of hostilities. Here are some of his childhood reminiscences of Newport during the war.

Early days - air raids and bomb damage

"Sunday morning … a walk with my father and the dog up Lawrence Hill. German plane set a fuel tank ablaze near Uskmouth…

Went over to Dewstow Street, off Corporation Road - bomb destroyed house in air raid on Newport. Went out in the morning looking for shrapnel. Found an aircraft’s green radio aerial…

Big anti-aircraft gun at Belmont Hill… its report caused windows to fall out and slates came off the roof…

Landmine exploded in Eveswell Street…many of my school friends killed… Dad went up to find my Nanna. She was OK. Dad stayed helping to dig out bodies…No school at Eveswell. Windows all blown out…Piece of the land mine came through the window and broke the dog’s dish… It also bent a half crown coin.

Barrage balloon

RAF barrage balloon at the top of Beechwood Park… We used to ask the WAAFs for a piece of the fabric. The balloon broke away in a gale and took the roofs of houses in Christchurch Road. Went to see it with Dad…

Army gun emplacement at the top of St Julian’s Wood (near the present motorway bridge). You could win sixpence if you identified enemy aircraft from the pictures on a board…

Only went to school for half the day as soldiers were billeted here…One week boys went in mornings; next week, girls… It was morning and afternoon shifts… Snowball fights with the soldiers…

Took part in raising cash to buy a warship, a frigate, HMS Newport.

I saw a Russian woman sniper who visited Newport for the war effort and a Spitfire at the Civic Centre with the pilot raising cash to buy one for Newport. I also saw the crashed German aircraft at Stow Park Avenue.

Later in the war

Down Goldcliff early evening. Tide was in, a warm day. Heard an aircraft coming – three German Heinkel IIIs… black… perhaps going to lay mines off Avonmouth. They were so close you could see the tan overalls of the crew. We were in the water naked; all of us turned around and showed our backsides to the German planes.

The RAF used to carry out target practice at Goldcliff… Hurricanes firing 20mm cannon shells at a target windsock pulled by an aircraft tug.

(In 1995, I went out on to the shoals at low tide and found cases of the shells…also ∙303 machine gun cartridge cases.)

Prisoners of war

German prisoners of war were allowed out in the later stages of the war. We used to try to teach them how to play cricket. We played football with them and flew model planes made out of balsa wood. The Germans used to set the trim and balance to make the models fly perfectly.

You could stand on the sea wall at Redwick and watch the dog fights in the air over Avonmouth - the rattle of machine guns and the thump-thump of cannon shells… I told fibs to Dad, said I saw dogfights from Beechwood Park. I dared not have told him I was down the wall…

As children, these times to us were fun; the tragic events never seemed to affect us – only when we lost a relative."

- Terence Charles, January 2005

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