Figure 1.--Here we see younger primary children being drilled to put on their gas masks. They seem to have become very proficient at it already. The children have desks, but the room dioes not kook like a normal classroom. I may have been taken just afterr thge evacation, perhaps in Septenmber 1939. Notice the black out curtains. A britush reader writes, "It looks like someone's home or a church community centre. There were lots of temporary schools and home tutoring where a tutor taught small groups of pupils."

The childten were given much more practice at school and became very proficient at putting on their gas masks. As a result, no one was better trained with using gas masks than the school children, including gheir parents. And this was not just the older students. We note drills with the schools training the children to efficiently put on gas masks correctly and quickly. This training and drill for the most part took place in the classroom (figure 1). That way you had teachers involved who were skilled at working with each age group. We note an impressive demonstration at a Glasgow school. This was going on all over Britain in every school. The children were taught at home as well, but at school they were drilled. Every British child became little experts at getting their masks on correctltly and fast. Gas mask training was of course was only one part of the school air raid drills. A British reader who was one of the students being trained tells us about his experience, "My recollection of the drill was that a rattle was used in the hallway to alert us to a gas attack. We were taught to stop breathing as soon as we heard that rattle. We were NOT to take a deep breath and not breathe again until our masks were in place. That of course meant that we had to be very good at getting our masks on. The masks were normally kept in the cloakroom, but it would be assumed that the Air Raid Alarm would have sounded long before any bombs were dropped so everyone would be in the shelter with their masks at the ready. The masks were placked in their boxes with the filter at the bottom and the rubber mask and the webbing at the top. One grabbed the webbing in both hands and smoothly slid it over the head. The rubber mask unfolded and slid up over the face. The tighness of the webbing was checked at every practice to ensure that each child's mask fitted properly and we got them on right. There was often much mirth during these sessions as with heavy breathing 'whoopy-cushion' noises could be made. Breathing heavily made the rubber vibrate against the cheeks, emitting the rude noise." 【Ardouin】

Sources

Ardouin, Alan. E-mail message, January 13, 2014.

Created: 4:30 AM 4/25/2023
Last updated: 5:19 AM 4/25/2023