The Baby Boomers
By Barbara Thomas
We have listened to the W Y. Z’d’s plus the Naughty
Nineties generations so let’s share the life of the Baby Boomer generation.
1938-1945
Well, that’s us. Most of us would still be a twinkle in our
Dad’s eyes if it hadn’t been for Herr Adolf Hitler, (formally a house painter,
soon to become one of the most hated and evil man of his time) unless of course
you were a Frauline or a Heinz.
Well, let’s see: First came the phoney war, followed by what
would later be referred to as: The Second World War. Our Fathers were drafted,
seconded, and many enlisted.
Time was precious, very few weekend passes before
embarkation. Girlfriend’s promising to be there (where ever that was)
when their gallant men and women came marching home.
Rules were broken, the men in the forces explaining to
their girl friends “Oh come on only once it won’t hurt, I’ll be careful,
promise, it will be something to remember me by when I’m away fighting for King
and Country”.
Oh! how many times those words were spoken? So off went
our brave men leaving their wives, and girlfriends, crying at railway
stations.
As the war gathered momentum, many civilians in the British Isles were either killed injured or made homeless
through constant bombing, life was hard but harder still for the women who had succumbed to the passion of that moment.
First came the sickness, then missed monthlies, then the
reality that they were pregnant. Married women although not at all happy
at their situation at least were in wedlock, the other poor wretches, in many
cases, were disowned by family, thrown out and told not to return.
The maternity wards were full, especially during the months
after the war began. Then the men would come on leave, and then off back to
war with more pregnancies until the orphanages were busting at the seams.
Although women shared the same goal, survival, some fell by the wayside,
destitute.
Hitler did his worst on British cities, towns, and villages, but through all this the women grew stronger and more defiant.
Then single women were seconded to the land to carry out
farm duties, work in factories, driving ambulances, buses even delivering
planes. Princess Elizabeth (our future Queen) became an ambulace driver.
They never complained they just got on with the job, more
times than not with their children clinging on their mother’s skirts.
Mothers with several children were exempt, but they kept
family and home together against amazing odds.
Today’s naughty nineties and X, Y, Z’s poke fun at the
fashion that women wore then and the songs that were sung, the
elderly still calling the radio “the wireless”. (Where children would take the batteries
on a pram down to the oil shop to be topped up) These people have no idea that
most homes, in fact many homes had no electricity, hot water, no bathroom only
the large tin bath hanging outside on the wall in the yard which everyone used
and one bath a week down at the communal baths, where a pump outside would open
up from a key outside, for the water to fill their baths.
This was the world we Baby Boomers grew up in, no fancy
foods, the meal was put on the table and you ate what you were given. The music
we listened to was our parents choice. We sat and listened to the Archers every
night. My brothers used to listen to ‘Dick Barton Special Agent’, under the
bedclothes, on a home made crystal set, the highlight of their day. By the time
the men returned home after 6 long years the cast had been set, Mum’s word was
law.
The War Babies, as I prefer to call them were brought up
to respect others. Not all of them did I know, and those children become feral
and unfortunately drifted into a life of crime.
Schools were full, with the children that had been born
either at the start, middle and end of the War. Just a thought, many may not
have existed had it not been for the war.
Barbara Thomas 3/03/2026
