大象传媒

I am one of the 鈥淏litz Kids鈥�. My mother decided that she would keep me with her rather than have me evacuated,.My Aunty who had two young children decided to do the same and as we shared this big house in Leyton, East London at least we were together. We shared an Anderson shelter with the wife who was the local head Air Raid Warden and her little son. Her husband had made it as comfortable as possible. The lower bed slept my Aunty and all the small children and I slept on the narrow sort of bunk bed over them. My poor Mum and neighbour sat on the benches either side and some how managed to rest sitting up or lying on the narrow benches. WE used to take food and hot drinks and water also my baby cousin鈥檚 bottles of milk as she was only 6mthes old. During the day we went in and out of this shelter depending on the sirens giving us warning of enemy attack and then the all clear to give us a chance to get things together for the next night and have some cooked meals and wash ourselves and clothes. About 7pm at night we got into our night things and went to the shelter to ready for the next wave of enemy bombers. As I was on the top bunk near the arched roof it was a bit claustrophobic and when we heard the bombs exploding all around it was deafening . I witnessed the bombing of the London Docks and the Arsenal which light up the whole sky with orange light. We had torches for light but any other system would have been dangerous. This routine went on for month s until one night the enemy dropped a mine at the back of our house about 2-300 yards from the Anderson we were in It devastated an area of about a large football area. When we were told it was safe to come out by the rescue services our house was still standing but everything was destroyed inside, It was then decided by the parents to go to Perth in Scotland as a safe place to be. On the train there we were machinegunned and I remember having to dive under the table on the train with my little cousin. We knew no one there when we arrived in `Perth but after having tea in a cafe the lady serving us after being told of our dilemma arranged for us all to stay with her sister . Everyone was so kind to us during our stay there and I was at last able to go to school!! We came back to London as we were informed by our relatives it was safe and we were just in time to experience the devastation caused by the V1鈥檚 and V2鈥檚 . My father was on reserve when the war started and he was on the Norwegian convoys on HMS Suffolk and of course was able to witness the tracking of the famous Bismark. All my four uncles were at Dunkirk and DDay and thankfully they came through it all safely also my father.

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