- Contributed by听
- Anna Jones, Learning Project Manager
- People in story:听
- Grace Darling
- Location of story:听
- Downham, London SE6
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A5026808
- Contributed on:听
- 12 August 2005
"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Anna Jones of the 大象传媒 on behalf of Grace Darling and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"
From the start of the war in 1939 we had to register with the local Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Warden. Everyone had a firewatching roster. From 8pm-8am you had no sleep at all - walking around the streets carrying a bucket of water and a bucket of sand and a stirrup pump.
One night I was in our Andersen shelter and lots of incendiary bombs were dropping - they sounded like lots of empty tin cans falling on the floor.
Our next door neighbour's house was on fire and he was in his own shelter. I shouted at him to come out to help us put out the fire but he stayed where he was and refused to move. My sister and I climbed over the fence and dug up some earth to help put out the fire. We accidentally dug up his brussel sprouts which he wasn't too pleased about. He was also very annoyed because I think he secretly wanted the house to burn down so he could move somewhere better.
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