大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by Karen Elmes at the Building Exploratory on behalf of June Gadd and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

June was a war baby. Her mother had to be evacuated to Welwyn Garden City to give birth in safety. June grew up in De Beauvoir Crescent in a home that backed onto the Regent鈥檚 Canal. During the War June鈥檚 father was on fire watch on top of a building at Goswell Road, Clerkenwell.

June can remember running to their Anderson shelter with her mother, her granny, great-grandmother, their dog Betsy and her puppies 鈥� four generations together in one shelter.

One night June and family had spent the evening visiting friends. When they returned their home had been hit by a bomb and was in ruins. June remembers being very frightened, as they could not live there whilst it was in such a state. The council moved the family out whilst they made some temporary repairs. When they returned, the broken windows had been replaced with tarpaulin, which made life in their home very dark.

June has very vivid memories of the flying bombs which she would listen out for:

鈥淲hen the doodlebugs and rockets used to come, I used to say, 鈥榪uick mum, there鈥檚 a doodlebug coming!鈥� It used to make a weird noise, she used to say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e right June.鈥� I was only four. I always got my mum out of trouble by listening to the bombs.鈥�

After the war June鈥檚 family stayed in their house in De Beauvoir Crescent. However when June was 18 they were forced to leave as their street was due to be demolished to make way for a new housing estate (De Beauvoir Estate). They were re-housed in Tottenham Road in a newly built home on the Kingsgate Estate. June remembers that it was a big improvement on the old house.

This story was recorded by the Building Exploratory as part of a World War Two reminiscence project called Memory Blitz. To find out more please go to ^{About links}

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