During World War II, my father, Roy, was part of the Home Guard. He walked from our house, 7 Gables Lane, Devonshire, to Devonshire Bay where he would patrol the shore and spend the night in a tin shed in the Fort. At certain dangerous times, each Home Guard member was given only 3 bullets to stop a German attack. My brother, David, was a runner for the Air Raid Precautions and delivered messages between stations.
My mother, May, was a switchboard operator for the British forces, where she heard many things that she was not allowed to discuss. One day, she told me she had a secret job for me. She had me hide cans of food in a crawl space as she feared the Germans might invade soon and was taking precautions. She knew better than most civilians how serious the U-boat & battleship threat was to Bermuda at any particular time.
My brothers, David & Ronald, and I built a treehouse in the cedar trees near our house. We spent almost every night there for 7 years, other than when we were sick or the weather was very bad. We got the idea to build a treehouse from one built by Leonard and Charles Stubbs near Happy Talk Lane, Paget. One night, I heard a noise outside the treehouse so I told whoever it was to identify themselves. They didn’t respond so fired my BB gun and 2 laughing figures ducked behind a tree! I then realized it was my sister, Clarine, and cousin, Ann Holmes Babajan. We were very proud of our treehouse. It was any boy’s dream, despite the difficulties of the war.