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鈥淭his story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Jane Hart from Hastings Library on behalf of Jerry Kind, copied directly from his typed story, and has been added to the site with his permission. Jerry Kind fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions鈥�

War Time Reminiscences of Jerry Kind

I was three years old when the 1939/45 war started and was living at Cheam. My father joined the RAOC and went to France with the Expeditionary Force, luckily he was taken off the beaches at Bray Dunes (sand dunes between Dunkirk & Ostende). I have no recollection of these facts but do recall that we, that is my younger brother & I were self evacuated with my mother to stay with a long standing friend of my parents and her young daughter in Lytham St Anne鈥檚. Matters became a bit fraught with us all living in a small house and we set off to stay in various places around the country. I recall Derby with my Grand parents and also Nottingham, here we shared a large house with overgrown garden. In both cases the windows were criss-crossed with sticky tape to help in the event of blast spreading too much glass around. We would have been in Nottingham in a winter as we were concerned at one time that the River Trent, which was in flood, might get as far as our lodgings. My father was stationed at Chilwell and we visited the depot and shown inside large caves housing shells etc tanks and other vehicles. We were given a ride in a Churchill tank which was quite frightening.
We moved to Sanderstead and I went to Primary School near Purley Oaks station; we had air raid drill from time to time which meant hiding under the desks. I then went to a school very close to Croydon Airport, which was used for fighters.
There was always a lot of activity due to this and other fighter airfields which surrounded us Biggin Hill, Warlingham, Kenley and others.
We slept in the back room of our semi detached house in a Morrison Shelter, this had been painted cream and on the top my mother kept pictures, flowers and vases, so it only appeared as part of the furniture.
On the nights when the Hun cane to bomb and shell the airfields the Ack Ack gun, which was kept in the railway tunnel at Purley, would come out and start shooting making the windows and doors rattle.
We carried on with our normal activities, Cubs, choir practice and church social clubs, and somebody would come and collect us and walk us home, there were no cars and no street lights, likewise no chinks from windows in houses, the blackout was put in place each evening and if any chinks of light were seen we suffered the wrath of the local wardens. Being that my Father was away in the Army there were always people to help with jobs although my mother was a very handy person.
One night when my Grandmother was staying,(she would have been approaching 80 years), we suffered from an attack of incendiary bombs, one of which came through the roof into my bedroom and caught fire, the second found the garage roof and was in danger of roasting the Rabbits which we grew for food. My mother armed with the stirrup pump attacked the flames and managed to put them both out without too much serious damage, although it was some time before both roof holes were repaired and even longer before my bedroom was refurbished and made habitable. In the morning we missed school as there were 12 duds spread around the garden, one under the chicken shed.
Rationed food was supplemented by the aforementioned rabbits and chickens were kept at the bottom of the garden. Eggs, when in profusion, were preserved in a large galvanised bucket in isinglass. Nothing was wasted and food put before us was eaten as there was nothing else to offer. Soap, when the bar got too small to handle, was put in a wire container with other small pieces and shaken in water to ensure every last piece was used.
During the night the doodle bugs started. As the warning carried on for so long the Gentleman across the road,(he was a gassed casualty from the First World War), came and we went to his shelter with his wife for a little comfort. Happily the all clear went at about 6am and we went home, and made our way after breakfast to school. This school was in Purley, and involved walking down to the Brighton road, collecting the boy whose mother had the shop and sub post office and then walking up the downs to school. When we were half way the warning siren sounded and we rushed back to the shop and then into a large communal shelter, there were many people and the last nights extended activity was discussed. Mid morning, much against the wishes of the wardens my mother insisted on taking us home, on the pretext that the cat was out. We left pushing her bike and running back up the hill and coming towards us was a doodle bug put-putting, we dropped the bike and ran and as the front door was opened the engine stopped, we had just dived into our shelter when the French doors and windows blew out. The doodle bug had just dropped on the shops and shelter we had vacated.
With this my mother decided to take us to Maidenhead, my Grandmother鈥檚 area had been reasonably free of bombing. We went by train and were helped on Paddington Station by an elderly gentleman to re rope the large trunk which we were travelling with. I still clearly recall that the glass roof which at one time had covered the Station was blown away.
My aunt and Grandfather from my fathers side lived at Finchley and I was from time to time sent to stay with them, I was put on a bus at Victoria station, in charge of the conductor, and observed the bomb damage that London had sustained.
My Aunt was sometimes required to do Fire Watch duty and she would take me, we slept on camp beds at the top floor in a tall building in North London and when the warning went we had to get up and report any bombs or fires in the area. From where we were you could observe London and see the explosions and fires as they started. I recall that the Caterham by pass was closed to traffic, it being camouflaged and on both carriage ways, closely guarded by soldiers, hundreds of vehicles, I assume waiting for D-Day.
At School we would walk across the high point of Purley Way which was barricaded with barbed wire and to our playing fields which looked down on to Croydon airfield and the fighters parked there.
Much to my mothers disgust we had a large collection of shrapnel and silver paper strips which most mornings and sometimes during the day after raids would be quite prolific in the streets and gardens.
It is difficult today to remember that there was no traffic, one rarely saw a car, if you did most had a large bag on top which looked like three double mattress on the roof, filled with gas, plenty of trams and few buses but a lot of these had trailers with gas tanks. The milk man had a horse and cart and it was always a rush to collect the droppings to manure the garden.
If you travelled on the train at night the lights were very dim, the blinds drawn and you had to rely on hearing the porter telling you where you were. No stations or for that matter any roads had signs telling you where you were or giving directions to any where.

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