大象传媒

In the summer of 1944 London was under attack from German V1 rockets, my father George T Relph was serving with the RAF overseas in Italy. As a boy aged 7-8 I lived with my mother Gladys and three brothers George, Alec and David at no 9 Bentons Lane, West Norwood, Lambeth, South London.
One evening we were sitting in the living room (George my eldest brother was out at the time) when suddenly the air raid warning alarm began to sound.
Mum quickly went upstairs to fetch David from his cot, came down stairs and took us all to the Air Raid Shelter, which was located in the back garden next door to us, Mum then returned to the house for some reason.
Whilst I laid quietly with my brothers in the shelter we could hear the sound of a Buzz Bomb (V1) Rocket overhead.
Suddenly the sound of the Rocket stopped, a neighbour in the shelter next to ours called my Mother to come into the shelter, mu Mum quickly came into the shelter and laid herself over us for protection, out pet dog Don followed behind her. I could feel the pounding of my mother's heart as we laid there waiting for the impact of the bomb. Suddenly the bomb struck the ground close by, the ground shook the shelter around us but stayed intact.
As we were unable to be housed immediately Mum and George sought out some temporary accommodation at Gypsy Road, West Norwood, back in our old neighbourhood.
My brother George made two rooms of a bomb damaged house barely habitable for our family to live in, the windows had to be boarded up, we cooked our meals over a coal fire, we all slept in a double bed and lived in these conditions through the winter months until the Authorities were able to rehouse us in suitable accommodation.

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Christina Cazalet of CSV Action Desk Leicester on behalf of Mr J Relph and has been added with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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