WORLD WAR TWO THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR ARTEFACT BOX THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR [WW2] ARTEFACT BOX: COMPLETE BOX 1 The 1939 Register–Bowden Family 15 Soldier’s Hymn Book [Full Transcript] 2 Service Pay Book [Roger B. Smith] 16 Christmas Menu 1943 3 National Identity Card [John G. 17 Five Postcards from Home Patterson] x2 4 Vienna Garrison ID Card [Roger B. 18 POW Record [George Dickson] Smith] 5 Photograph of the Battle of Monte 19 Soldier’s Release Papers- Roger Smith Cassino, Italy 1944 [Roger Smith] [Discharge Papers] 6 Record of Service [Roger Smith] 20 Medical Card [Bruce Carey] 7 Shell 21 Photograph of Holy Island Home Guard 1942 8 Regimental Badges 22 Lossie Forest Pillbox template 9 Joseph Bowden- Medals Record 23 One Ration Card Booklet & One Booklet of Petrol Ration Tokens 10 Soldier’s Gaiters 24 Butter Paddles x2 11 Uniform Epaulette 25 Pack Of Ten Replica WW2 Newspapers 12 Button Polisher 26 The Big Book For Girls 13 Christmas Menu 1944 27 The Home Front in Photographs [Emma Crocker] 14 Christmas Entertainment 28 The Peregrini Coast At War [WW2] Programme1944 Education Loan Box - RISK ASSESSMENT 29 The Peregrini Coast At War [WW2] Education Loan Box - BOOKLET Note: Artefacts 1-6 ; 9 ; 13-23 are all contained in a plastic wallet in the box Acknowledgements The Family of Joseph Bowden, South Charlton, Alnwick, Northumberland. The Family Of Roger Smith. The Family of George Dickson. The Families of John Patterson & Bruce Carey Forestry Commission Scotland- Lossie Forest Pillbox Template.. Ian Hall, www.wildsofwanney.co.uk for information & photographs of Northumberland’s Auxiliary Units [see Ian Hall (2015), Most Secret : Uncovering The Story Of Northumberland’s Underground Resistance- The Auxiliary Units Of WW2. Wanny Books] ARTEFACT BOX: THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR EXPLORE: THE 1939 REGISTER Artefact 1: 1939 Register –Bowden Family, South Charlton Further Information: It is 1939. War is inevitable and the British Government are planning how to manage the war both at home and abroad. The government know that they need to issue National Identity Cards as part of their plans to protect the country. They are also planning to introduce rationing and to move large numbers of people around the country. But, the previous census in 1931 is now almost 10 years old and they need more up-to- date statistics. So in September 1939, the government took a register [survey] of all civilians living in England and Wales at the time. Take a look at part of the 1939 Register in Artefact 1. This is a copy of the original document. See if you can find the Bowden family who lived at South Charlton, near Alnwick. We will be following the story of their son Joseph. You will see that some records are closed. This is usually because the person mentioned is still alive. The Government constantly updated and changed the 1939 Register over time to take account of changes of address or deaths. When they introduced rationing in 1941, they planned it with information from the 1939 Register. After the war, the 1939 Register was used to form the basis of the NHS registration system. The 1939 Register is a very important 20th century record, giving us information about people and their occupations. It is the only national census-like resource available for this period as the 1931 Census was destroyed by fire and no census was taken in 1941 because of the war. Explore What is a census? How often are they taken? What sort of information is contained in a census? What is a civilian? Why was it important for the government to have up to date information? What sort of information might have change since the last census in 1931? ARTEFACT BOX: THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR EXPLORE: WORLD WAR 2 SOLDIERS Artefact 2:Service Pay Book Artefact 3:National Identity Card Artefact 4 : Vienna [Roger Smith] [John Patterson] x2 Garrison ID Card [Roger Smith] Artefact 5: Photograph of the Battle of Artefact 6: Record of Service [Roger Smith] Monte Cassino, Italy 1944 [Roger Smith] Further Information: Joseph Bowden was born in December 1921 at South Charlton near Alnwick, Northumberland. During WW2, he was ‘called up’ and joined the Royal Army Ordinance Corps. The photographs above are of a soldier’s service pay book and ID card [Artefacts 2 & 3] National Identity cards were issued soon after the 1939 Register was taken and they were used until 1952. Take a look inside the service pay book [Artefact 2]. At the front are the soldier’s details and his will in case he was killed in battle. Who does Roger Smith leave his belongings to in his will? Artefacts 4, 5 & 6 tell us more about where Roger saw service during the war. In particular, he was involved on the battle of Monte Cassino, one of the most important and bloodiest battles of WW2. Explore: Read Roger Smith’s service pay book. Which regiment did he belong to? What other information does this book contain about Roger? Why was it important for Roger to carry his service pay book with him at all times? How would ID cards have helped to protect the country? In what other situations would an ID card have been important? Find out more about the battle of Monte Cassino: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battles-of-monte-cassino https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6utJ_VQc04 ARTEFACT BOX: THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR EXPLORE: WW2 IN EUROPE AND ASIA Artefact 8 : Regimental Artefact 7 : Shell Badges Artefact11:Uniform Artefact 10 : Soldier’s Gaiters Artefact 12 : Button Polisher Epaulette Further Information: Soldiers were expected to be disciplined and keep their uniforms smart and tidy. This included polishing the buttons on their uniform. Take a look at Artefact 11, the uniform epaulette. It gives you an idea of the kind of buttons you had to polish. Uniforms often had a lot of buttons down the front, so it took a while to clean them all! Artefact 12 is a button polisher. Can you work out how and why it was used? Soldiers were issued with gaiters [Artefact 10] to protect them against the mud and rain. Artefact 7 is a WW2 shell. This shell has had the explosive removed from it, so it’s safe to handle it. But, sometimes along out coast, live shells are uncovered by the tide. THESE ARE DANGEROUS AND MUST NEVER BE PICKED UP. Artefact 8 contains two regimental badges that would have been worn as part of a soldier’s uniform. These two badges belong to a well-known local regiment - the Northumberland Fusiliers. Artefact 9 [not pictured] is a record of Joseph Bowden’s military awards. It is hard to say exactly how many people were killed during WW2. Estimates vary between 50-80 million. One thing that everybody agree with is that it has been the deadliest war ever, wiping out around 3% of the world population at the time. There were approximately 22-30 million, military death during WW2. This cover those killed in battle, soldiers missing in action as well as deaths due to disease, accidents and prisoners of war deaths. About 15 million soldiers died in battle during WW2. Civilian deaths, including Holocaust victims and those killed through crimes against humanity, strategic bombing and population transfers are estimated to 19-30 million. Explore: Take a look at the key facts on World War 2 [WW2] at: https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/world-war-2 and: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/Britain.html When did WW2 begin? Why did the UK and France declare war on Germany? Who were the Allied countries? Who were the Axis countries? What were VE Day and VJ Day? What medal did Joseph Bowden win? What time period does this campaign medal cover? Visit your local war memorial. How many local soldiers were killed in WW2? ARTEFACT BOX: THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR EXPLORE: A SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS Artefact 13:Christmas Menu 1944 Artefact 14: Christmas Artefact 15: Soldier’s Entertainment Programme Hymn Book Artefact 16: Christmas Menu 1943 Artefact 17: Five Postcards from Home Further Information: Even though the troops were away from home, they still celebrated Christmas. Artefacts 13 and 16 are Christmas Menus from 1944 and 1943 showing what the soldiers would be eating for their Christmas dinner. Usually, Christmas Day would start with a religious service as many more people attended church regularly then, than they do today. The soldiers planned a day of entertainment. Take a look at Artefact 14 to see what was happening for some of the troops based in Italy in 1944. Sometimes the soldiers received gifts from relatives at home. The day would often end with everyone gathered around for a sing-song. Perhaps singing some songs from the Songs of Victory book [Artefact 15] each soldier had. Soldiers also sent and received letters and postcards whilst they were away at war. Artefact 17 shows some samples of postcards Joseph Bowden sent and received Explore: Would you have enjoyed Christmas Day as a soldier? Write a letter home telling your family how you spent Christmas Day as a soldier using the Artefacts above to help you. How do you think it felt having a son or husband at war fighting as a soldier? Find out more about how Britain celebrated Christmas during WW2 at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/topics/christmas_in_world_war_two and: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cngpy ARTEFACT BOX: THE PEREGRINI COAST AT WAR EXPLORE: PRISONERS OF WAR Holy Island Coast Guard Artefact 18: POW Artefact19: Discharge Artefact 20: Medical Lookout Tower Record [George Papers [Roger Smith] Card [Bruce Carey] Dickson] Further Information: As well as many soldiers being killed during the war, a number of men were captured and held captive in prisoner of war [POW] camps by Axis forces during WW2.