With the 80th Anniversary of D Day approaching, North Tyneside Council’s Armed Forces Officer, Nick Jobson, paid a visit to one of the area’s sheltered accommodations to speak with Centenarian, John William Ferguson.
Introduced by Lorna Shields of North Tyneside Living, John, known as Jack, has been a resident at the home for 40 years and was willing to share his account of life during World War 2.
Jack was born in March 1924 and was 15 when the War started.
At age 14, Jack had wanted to join the Army and follow his father’s footsteps. His Father had served with the Tyneside Scottish Regiment and saw the horror of war first hand when shot and injured in the Battle of the Somme.
Jack’s brother, Robert Charles Ferguson, joined the Royal Navy in 1938 and served on HMS Penelope. Robert survived the war and passed away in 1983. He named his daughter Penelope after the ship he served on, a memory which still brings a smile to Jack’s face.
Jack’s father, now a miner, refused to sign the forms, wanting him to work at the pit.
Disappointed, Jack took up the shovel and began his working life.
He relayed memories of working at Hastings Pit, Hartley, and the Shankhouse Screens. The Hastings Pit had been the scene of a tragic accident in 1862.
The Hartley Colliery Disaster, also known as the Hartley Pit Disaster or Hester Pit Disaster, was a coal mining accident which occurred on January 16 1862, and resulted in the deaths of 204 men and children. The beam of the pit's pumping engine broke and fell down the shaft, trapping the men below. The disaster prompted a change in British law that required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
Jack recalls visiting the memorial, which is situated at St Albans Church, Earsdon, North Tyneside. A poignant reminder of the dangers faced by working miners.
Jack was 15 when war broke out and he recalls sitting around the radio with his family on a Sunday afternoon. Sharp as a dart, Jack gives the day and date, September 3rd 1939.
The news report, narrated by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, talked about the German invasion of Poland, of the failure of the British Envoy to Germany and of Great Britain’s letter to Germany which was unanswered.
The radio message concluded with Chamberlain’s words, “This country is at War with Germany”.
As Jack was young, he didn’t feel the initial impact but still had an urge to join the Army. However, Jack’s fate was set. He would remain as miner throughout the war. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service. Those medically unfit were exempted, as were others in key industries and jobs such as baking, farming, medicine, engineering and mining.
Unable to join the war effort by joining up, Jack continued working on the Shankhouse Screens. Hard manual labour, picking stones from the belts, and a job Jack hated with a passion.
Some miners were called up and some who did were disbanded from the military and returned to the mines due to the crushing pressures they were under to maintain production at a time when the mines were nearly at a standstill.
Jack recalls vividly, the day at the mine when his father lost his life. He lay there severely injured and was taken to the RVI.
Jack was sent home, and the family later received a telegram to inform he was injured, with a later telegram confirming death.
The loss of his father meant further upheaval for Jack. His mother moved to work and live at St Georges Hospital in Morpeth while Jack lived between his two sisters.
Jack recalls returning his father’s army pension book to the Post Office.
Again, he tried to leave the pits and join up but again, his requests were refused. He would remain in the pits.
Jack’s daily life as a late teenager was one of hard work, rations, blackouts, curfews and the ever-present threat of air raids.
The regular sirens caused many to flee to their Anderson shelter and wait until the threat passed and the sirens sounded the all-clear. Rebellious Jack would often miss going to the shelter and remain outside as did many others.
Jack knew the dangers. He spoke of the news at the time when major cities were bombed beyond recognition by the Luftwaffe, including London, Coventry, Nottingham, and Birmingham.
At nights, all windows had to be blacked out and the Air Raid Wardens would patrol the streets giving fines to those not sticking to the rules.
Pubs would shut at 10pm and later in the war would extend their hours to 10.30pm.
Money was tight but Jack earned a decent wage for the time, six shillings and nine pence daily.
Food was rationed, portions were smaller but Jack still managed chips, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and, when the convoys got through, SPAM. Jack saw SPAM as a treat and loved it, straight cut, fresh from the tin but not fried, definitely not fried.
People had to cut their cloth according to the times as the convoys were attacked daily. The American convoys, the North Atlantic fleet was regularly attacked by Stuka dive bombers and submarines. Dangerous times with a massive impact on the nation’s morale and less provisions making it to the UK mainland.
Jack, as others did, felt the hardship with long days at the pit, money being tight and a lack of food through rationing.
Jack presented as quite unfazed about the hardships he and others faced on the home front and exuded a sense of frustration about not being able to join up to do his bit.
He had applied for RAF Air Crew which was one of the few roles a miner could be released to perform. Failing maths, Jack could not continue and remained at the mine.
He spoke fondly of a friend at the time, Arthur Morton, who was conscripted in 1942. Arthur, he recalls, collected the sand from the beaches before serving in the Royal Navy on HMS Rodney.
Arthur survived the war and passed away in 2005, his funeral attended by Jack.
On Tuesday 6 June 1944, Operation Overlord commenced.
At 20 years of age, Jack knew nothing of the impending invasion and can’t remember much of what was being reported at the time.
He saw no real change in the living conditions of the time. He and his friends, ‘The Gang’ would go to the local dance and the cinema on a Sunday. He relayed a humorous, rather risqué story of a night at the local dance. If Jack is reading this, the quote “There’s gold in them thar hills” should raise a smile.
When the war ended in 1945, Jack at 21 years of age, still hankered to leave the pits and join the Military. When the opportunity arose, he put in his notice and finally in 1946, joined the RAF. A Military career short lived as through an administrative error, he should not have been released so again, it was back to the pits.
In April 1947, Jack met his wife and they married in November the same year, remaining together until she passed in 2003.
Jack spoke freely and at ease about his time growing up as teenager and of his working life throughout the war. He did not dwell on the hard times but presented as positive. He was one of the lucky ones not to lose close relatives and friends but does know the impact such a loss can have.
Frustrated at not being able to serve as he so wanted to do, Jack gave a fair, understated, and underplayed account of his time throughout the war.
The war on the home front, although not as bloody and brutal as that played out daily on the frontlines of land, sea and air, was vitally important. The home fires were kept burning by Jack and many like him and it was a privilege to be able to spend time with him.