大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Dianne Burtrand of Chelmsford Library on behalf of Artin Cornish and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

When I was young my Aunt, Ellen Church, told me these memories of her time in London during the Second World War.

In 1939 Harry, my husband, came home and said that his office was being transferred to Wisborough Green in Sussex and I would be able to work there. At that time I worked at I.C.I. in London. They asked me to go to Billingham as my department was moving there. I had my father and mother living with me and I could not leave them. I would have loved to have gone with Harry, but perhaps I would not have enjoyed living in the country so I joined the Woolwich branch of the Auxiliary Fire Service. At first we thought we would not be needed. I had an air raid shelter put in the garden for my parents and from my Station I could see my house 鈥� I just had to look up the hill and know they were okay. Then the Luftwaffe came. It was terrible to see London burning. Living at the top of Shooters Hill we could see the whole of Dockland, Tower Bridge and St. Pauls, so you can guess what a sight it was.
All our firemen were out, some went as far as the East End and the West of London and us women were giving them orders where to go and wishing we could do more. The bombs were dropping all around us and every chance I got I was looking up to see if my house was still there.
Night after night the sirens went off and Woolwich was having such a lot of damage, being so near the Arsenal. It鈥檚 strange, but very few fell there. I have a cracked window in my dining room, the only one left after a bomb dropped nearby. I look upon it as my War Memorial 鈥� I will not have it mended. People think I鈥檓 crazy, perhaps I am.
Things got a bit quieter, so I went as an Officer at the Headquarters of the Southern Area at Avery Hill, Eltham. I was in the teleprinter room as I had learnt it while I was at I.C.I. One night I was fire watching on the roof there when we heard this weird noise in the sky and wondered what it was, then we heard it was a Flying Bomb.
I can recall that one day I went to see my nephew Artin (he had been evacuated to Wellingborough and was at school there) as he was in hospital with appendicitis and was in a rather bad way. I am happy to say he was soon on the mend. His father, my brother, had died and it was a sad time for him. Everything went alright until I got off the train and there was a very bad air raid on. It was about 8 o鈥檆lock. I did not get to Shooters Hill until midnight. It was a bad experience, I did not think I was going to make it and was so worried about my parents. They thought something had happened to me.
The Flying Bombs were increasing and you never knew when or where they would come. I was having my hair done when one dropped very near. The ceiling would have fallen on me but the bowl caught all the damage. I am afraid that the hairdresser attending to me was badly hurt and had to spend many weeks in hospital with eye and head injuries. I did not know it then but I had damaged both ear drums and it left me very deaf. I had an operation but it was not a success. One escape I had was when I was due to work one Saturday and Harry rang to say he was able to come up to London that day. I asked for special leave and it was granted. A Flying Bomb fell on the building that afternoon and when I went in the next morning I saw my blouse, which I had left hanging behind my office door, perching on the top of a tree nearby. The office was very badly damaged.
A further incident happened in my road. The Germans had made a very special bomb which was silent. We called it the V2. One evening I was getting off the bus when this terrific explosion happened. Our road was full of smoke and fumes. A V鈥� had dropped just ten houses from us. My mother and father were staying for a week with one of my sisters. When I reached home every ceiling was down and every door blown off, the mess was awful. It was so sad, a friend of mine lost his wife and two of his children and the whole family next door were under rubble 鈥� dead. It was so strange, my telephone was the only one in order and all my neighbours were coming in to phone their relatives to say they were okay. People were so caring in those days. The searching was going on all night. We all helped one another and the Red Cross was able to help with food and drinks. Late that evening I managed to get through on the phone to my husband. He asked if I was Okay and said he was playing whist and could not stop but he would try to get home at the weekend, but he might be on Home Guard duty. We often laughed about it later as I thought he was not bothered about me , but I was wrong. At the time I was lost for words.
My two sisters鈥� husbands were in the army and I am happy to say they came home to them. I felt so sorry for them, especially as I knew Harry was safe and enjoying his time away from London. It must have been a worrying time for them.

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