Lest we forget - The Home Front

I often wondered how my late grandfather who started work on the UndergrounD as a p/way engineer (ending up as foreman ganger) kept in touch with his work. He and Nanna and my mother lived in South Ealing until 1936ish, and I suppose that there was no need? When they moved to Hounslow West they had a telephone installed, and probably so that Grandad could be contactable. This became essential when war broke out and he and his team had jobs to do so to speak in the aftermath of bombings. The job had become a way of life, and that way of life meant complete and personal relationships with your colleagues. And the realities of war. However, I now know that with war on the horizon they had to have that 'phone. My parents still have the same number 70 years later!

I have decided that I should mention that the UndergrounD teams had a hellish life during the war. The teams worked all hours, and my Grandad was there at Balham and most tragedies beforehand. However by 1943 he came home one day and said to my mother that he could not go on any more, and that he had decided to jack his job in. This from a man who had been in the Army from 1917 until demob post-war and then again on signing-up (being sent to Ireland!). I cannot but feel deepest respect for the men of the UndergrounD who had to work in those terrible times and keep the system running.