- Contributed by听
- West Sussex Library Service
- People in story:听
- Joan Shepherd (nee Ward)
- Location of story:听
- Reading, Berkshire
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4678400
- Contributed on:听
- 03 August 2005
I remember the day war was declared, I was 16 at the time. I was in Church and someone came up into the pulpit with a note and it was announced that war had been declared. We sang a hymn and then the service ended. We were not sure how we would get home as all the buses had been stopped. We lived between Reading and Wokenham.
The next day I was starting work for the first time. I took my gas mask in. everyone sat with cardboard boxes beside them with the masks in the them but no-one was sure whether they were supposed to bring them in. During that week lots of evacuees turned up. We took one evacuee in.
I worked in the Ministry of Food which was a reserved occupation so I was not allowed to volunteer to sign up. I had to fire-watch all night but still had to work the next day. I nearly fell asleep. One night I was fire-watching in a Church and started to play the organ. A Fire Warden came in to see what was happening. On another night, with an aerodrome nearby, I saw a low flying German aeroplane on its way to bomb Reading, I鈥檓 not sure what happened to it.
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