大象传媒

I was 12 and living in South London, when ww2 started and remember the blitz well. The only time mum and i went into a shelter was the night the docks were bombed and on an Air Raid Warden's insistence. It was pretty bad, you could see the fires for miles but that was the only time we used a shelter. We felt if we had to go we'd prefer to be in our own home. I used to pull up the bedclothes over my head at night to try and drown out the droning of the german bombers. We were bombarded every night for months and on one occasion some friends came down to us from an upper flat for safety. The gentleman put his bowler hat in the hearth. That night a land mine exploded not far away, bringing soot down the chimney. After the all clear sounded, our friends prepared to leave. The gentleman picked up his hat, put it on and was covered in soot. It was hard for a young girl not to giggle, but they never did come again. On Sunday 15th September 1940 I was out playing with friends and we watched an air battle taking place overhead. After a bit we saw a parachute open and drift across the river towards Hanleyford road by the oval cricket ground. The German airman landed on the telegraph wires in front of me by the oval cricket ground and hung in his harness above the pavement. I heard him say "Kamerad Kamerad". By this time there was a crowd of people with brooms, pokers etc trying to reach him. Fortunately for him the police were on hand, kept the crowd at bay and took him to the cricket ground. My school friend Evelyn, whose grandfather was the greensman at the oval told me the airman died from his wounds shortly afterwards. The Dornier incidentally, from which the German airman parachuted was the one which was knocked down by a hurricane-the fighter pilot having run out of ammunition, knocked the Dornier's tail off with his wing. There are photographs of the Dornier falling out of the sky and which did infact, crash into the forecourt of Victoria Station. The Hurricare pilot subsequently losing control of his aircraft, bailed out, the Hurricane crashing in Buckingham Palace road. Doodlebugs were very scary, once the engine stopped you held your breath knowing it was on it's way down. One did crash into one of the gasmeters and the heat was very fierce. Another one fell quite near and i had to shout to mum to come away from the window where she had been reading the Sunday paper. Good job she did as the blast sent showers of glass flying into the room. They were terrible times, but people were wonderful, always willing to help where they could

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