大象传媒

The day war broke out I was six years old. I distincly remember the first air raid siren going off. My sister and I were playing outside when my mother came and took us in and bundled us under the stairs in a cupboard among the brooms and brushes.We had coats all hanging over us. We didn't quite know what to make of it. we stayed there until the clear was sounded.

Another vivid memory was standing with Mum & others all crying, while watching the Red Cross trains pass by on the way back from Dunkirk with the wounded soldiers waving from the windows.

A lot of stories have been told of the Battle of Britain in the air. But what of those of us in the kent hop fields who saw it played out above us.

From what I remember the weather was warm and sunny and the skys were clear.

The vivid memory of aircraft that fought above us. Watching the planes as they dived and twisted like swallows in the sky. Both Germans and Spitfires blowing each other to pieces.

The burning debris droping all around us. I remeber running like frightened rabbits to one hedge then another trying to get away from the burning metal. The fighter planes crashing to the ground. Sometimes we would see a puff of white in the sky then we new a pilot had got out.

My brother and other kids would run to try to help pilots and collect souveniers from the planes. Sadly some children were killed while climbing over a german bomber when it blew up. I wondered if those children are remembered.

It was terrifying time for us. One never to be forgotten.

Even the poor horses had their heads covered with a sack so they couldn't see the flames.

I remeber Christmas at the time of the Blitz sleeping under our dining room table before we had a garden shelter. The noise of the bombs and the anti aircraft guns which ran up and down the railway lines . We were terrified.

Going to school in the morning and having to climb over bombed out houses with debris blocking the roads.

One of my little friends was shot in the back as she ran home from school by a german fighter plane . it was being chased by a Spitfire my sister and I managed to run into our house and to safety.

Then we were evacuated to Devon to a beautiful house in Newton Poppleford. The people there were wonderful to us. The beauty of the place, the calm and peace of Devon never left me.

When a lull came in the bombing we went home again, there we stayed until the doodle bugs started. Once again we livid in the shelter in the garden.

South Norwood Croydon was know as the bomb alley.It seemed to us that all the flying bomobs ran out of fuel over us. We stood and watched them coming up from kent then we dived for cover in the shelter.

Our schools were closed again, we were glad we hated having to sit in the school shelters we were made to sing songs and recite our time tables to keep us from crying.

Back to Devon again to the peace and quiet.

My eldest brother had joined the army and was a paratrooper.

This was a very sad time for us as he was killed in action in the Ardennes Battle.

He was a very young soldier only 20 years old.

He went into battle at 1.30pm on the 3rd Janauary 1945 the whole company died at 4pm.

What a waste of young lives

We were devastated with our loss, and still the wars come and go will the governments ever learn.

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