All Five of us Boys

I was the youngest son of Albert and Nellie Jeffers. Dad worked as the Station Officer at the Coastguard Station at Westbourne Place in Mumbles.

 All five of us boys had attended Oystermouth School, though Albert (the eldest) was soon apprenticed to learn a trade as motor mechanic at Blackpill garage. While he was a Rover Scout, he owned an old Douglas motorbike and on returning on it from a camping trip in Caswell Bay, he ran into a lamppost receiving a fractured skull that put him in Swansea hospital for quite some time. In about 1935 he left the garage and joined The Trinity House as a lighthouse keeper.

           Brother Dick the second eldest, after leaving school at 14 was apprenticed as a shoe repairer at S.O.S. (Save Our Soles) in Swansea, but soon followed the footsteps of Albert and joined the 'Trin'. He had a number of tales to tell about his service in lighthouses, one interesting event happened during WW2 when on The Wolf Rock a German submarine ran on to the rock, some of the German crew attempted to enter the lighthouse, but the keepers would have none of it and notified the authorities who dispatched the navy to collect the men.

             Brother Herbert (Bert) also left school at the age of 14 and after working as a delivery boy for Johnson’s the Cleaners in ‘The Dunns’ Mumbles, was apprenticed to the hair dressing trade in Swansea. He cycled the five miles to work and I saw him on many occasions racing the train when I was on it going to school in Swansea. Bert remained in that job until called up in August 1939 to join the Welsh Guards. Men called up at that time were called 'Militia' men and not 'Territorials', the 'Terriers' were volunteers and were part-time soldiers, the Militia were conscripts.

             Bert's regiment, the second Battalion, was sent out to Boulogne to 'Hold the line' during the time the British Expeditionary force was being evacuated from Dunkirk. He was captured by the Germans and for three months was on the ‘Missing list’, a most anxious time for Mum, who wore a thin black band around her hat during this period.

 Bert spent the rest of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp near Marienburg, Poland. [See below]. When working on farmland there, their hours of work were very long and as food was getting short, they were told when on morning parade that a further two hours were going on to their day. Bert protested, the German officer in charge drew his pistol and threatened to shoot Bert if he gave any more trouble. There was no more trouble, but Bert languished in solitary confinement for three weeks for speaking up. Despite this episode, Bert was recognised as a good barber and once a fortnight cut the Camp Commandant’s hair, for which service he was given a cigar. He didn't smoke but it was useful for barter! Later, he was given work in a milk and cream factory and was so sick of cream, that when he returned home he never really got to like the stuff.

           When the Russians were advancing through Poland Bert along with several hundred others were marched 450 miles back into Germany. He sustained severe frostbite in his feet and lost all his toenails on that walk, although happily they did grow back. During this time, rations were very meager, so he bartered his wristwatch that he had managed to retain while in captivity, for a loaf of bread.

            Brother William (Bill known by all as Plum) the only tubby member of the family and a little bit slow in learning, went to Clevedon College in Sketty when about 12 years old in order to give his education a boost. A very active Sea Cadet for some years (I was only in the Cubs).  When fifteen years old, he was apprenticed to an armature-winding firm in Swansea, until called up in 1943. After the fall of France, Bill joined the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) later known as The Home Guard and was promoted to Corporal. He had tried to join up before this, but he had been in a 'Deferred' trade considered essential to the war effort. Our house was a miniature arsenal having a 303 Lee Enfield rifle, a 300 Ross rifle, a 45 revolver, a Luger automatic, a Sten gun and lashings of ammunition. Bill was eventually called up and was in the R.E.M.E. (Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) and served in Italy.

Marienburg Stalag XXB or Stalag 20B Marienburg Danzig was a German POW camp in World War II.

Located near Marienburg, it was originally a hutted and tented camp with a double boundary fence and watchtowers. British, Poles and Serbs were held here in 1940. An administration block including a hospital was erected in the latter part of 1940, mainly by prisoner labour. By 1941 a theatre had been built. POWs were sent out to labour in nearby farms, sawmills, factories, goodsyards and cutting ice on the river Nogat.