[YOUTUBE]qtrOJnpmz6s&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLB829F8ADF87107E8[/YOUTUBE] British Declaration Of War - Radio Broadcast - 3 Sept 1939 - YouTube
It's only the first 50 seconds we usually hear, thanks wowtank for the whole broadcast. Lots of other Youtube Churchill etc stuff attached to that. Easily missed and the links go on a long way.
This, from my memoirs; 3rd September 1939 The following morning, a Sunday, I started exploring the novelty of living by the sea and I was actually swimming in the sea when the first warning siren sounded, (a false alarm as it happened). I hurriedly dried myself and hastened back to the flat, passing on the way two women standing in the doorway of their house. The pair, probably mother and daughter, were both crying and embracing. With the sublime arrogance of a sixteen year old I called out to them "Don't worry ..... everything's gonna be all right!" They paused in their grief and turned to give me a withering look that left me in no doubt that I knew nothing of the sort of troubles that the world could offer on that day and so I shamefacedly continued homeward where I arrived just in time to listen to the radio and the recorded voice of Chamberlain telling us that war had been declared. Ron
It's already been posted on the 70th Anniversary of it being broadcast in post #23 of this thread with transcript . http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/all-anniversaries/15563-marking-70th-anniversary.html D then posted the King's broadcast .
I recall thinking that if the war will be finished by Christmas - I won't have to go….Then came my 18th Birthday - and just last July I celebrated my 90th birthday - just how lucky can we get… 70 odd bonus years Cheers
good day wowtank.very senior member.20th mach.2012,01:51am.re:britich declaration of war,your link has been withdrawn,just to let you know,regards bernard85.
Was at Avebury Manor today with my children. Was sat in the Alexander Keiller Parlour. It's done up as if it was 3rd September 1939. The radio plays tunes from the era then breaks into Chamberlain's Declaration of War speach. Photo here. http://aveburymanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/alexander-keiller.html We had a good discussion as if we were our ages now in 1939. I'd have been the same age as WW1 Veterans , my eldest would have soon gone off to join one of the Women's Services or work in a factory, my older son would have been old enough to have been called up in 1944. Thought it was a good history lesson for the kids without being too heavy.
I am so glad they have a place like Avebury Manor that recreates that most significant moment in the life of my generation. I will always remember the very serious, dull sombre tones of Chamberlain conveying the severity that now faced us and the changed lives we would now lead. For me, the time I feared had now arrived and must be prepared and ready to defend all I held dear. I was glad I had been mobilised into the Army three days before but fearfully looked to the days ahead. Now 75 years later I still feel the 'moment' I first heard the broadcast and although I did not 'pay the price' far too many did and countless names I will never know but recognise their brave spirit and owe them I debt I will never forget. Joe Brown.
And . . . whilst I was away doing ‘my bit’ the life of my Border Town of Peebles also experienced changes to its normal way of life whilst doing ‘its bit’. As early as 1939 until 1940, an RA Field Regiment took over the main local hotel in the centre of the town as their officers' mess. In 1941-42 another local hostelry, the County Hotel, became the Divisional Headquarters of the British 3rd Division, the Division which B. L. Montgomery had commanded at Dunkirk. From 1941 to 1943 the 1st Polish Armoured Division stationed for training in the Scottish Borders had elements of this formation in a hutted camp in one of its central parks. It was common sight to see Matilda Tank in Peebles. The members of this unit had their revenge for the conquest of Poland when they closed the Falaise Gap to the retreating Germans in 1944. Joe Brown.
My Dad lived in Herne Hill in September 1939: 6 1/2 weeks later he joined the army, 6 1/2 years later my Dad left the army - the rest is... history. “It was Sunday 3 September,1939, and I was at the 1030am Mass, one of about 12 servers. After the Gospel, Father Kelly mounted the pulpit to give his usual long, inaudible but very interesting sermon, at least for those of us who could hear him. Slightly louder than usual, he read to us the announcement that Mr Chamberlain had made over the radio that morning. During the service, we had heard the wail of a siren but had thought it was a practice. He continued Mass, as usual and we left the church at just after half past 11. We were at war but it felt no different than the day before. On the first night of the war, I could swear that I could smell gas. We had been issued gas masks and were thoroughly frightened of being gassed as we slept. We also had an Anderson shelter (a basic unit comprising corrugated iron built over a dug-out) in the back garden. To our surprise, nothing happened. The main noticeable difference was to see guns and searchlights in the parks, on bridges and in open places. The nights, however, were dark and every chink of light was greeted by a shout from an air raid warden.”
I remember one old boy saying to me : I went off to summer camp with the TA in August 39 and didn’t get home till 1946
