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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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The Other Way...:Childhood memories in Kent

by Katherine Davies - WW2 Site Helper

Contributed by听
Katherine Davies - WW2 Site Helper
People in story:听
Derek Spencer
Location of story:听
Kent
Article ID:听
A2006614
Contributed on:听
09 November 2003

Derek had become used to air raids during his time as a child in Kent during the war. I've been told many times about the german artifacts he gathered from planes that had been shot down which including a german boot - complete with german leg! But the introduction of the much dreaded doodle-bug caught them off guard.

One morning, he and a group of fellow workers were taking lunch in the fields of the farm he grew up in when one of them heard the engine of the bomb as it flew in overhead. The group stood watching as they thought it would hit far from where they were, but their interest turned to horror when the bomb hit the wires leading from a barrage balloon, turned direction and began heading straight towards their picnic! The lads began to run away from the rapidly closing bomb. However, as fast as they ran the bomb creeped ever closer.

In the nick of time, the foreman of the group grabbed the other boys and yealled "Turn About! Turn About!". Heeding the foreman's advise the boys turned and ran back past their picnic and under the flightpath of the decending weapon narrowly escaping the area of impact. The forman once again grabbed the boys and threw them to the floor as the bomb impacted, but Derek's curiosity got the better of him and he looked up to see the blast. His hearing returned after a week, but I'm sure his gratitude to the quick-thinking forman lasted somewhat longer.

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This story has been placed in the following categories.

V-1s and V-2s Category
Childhood and Evacuation Category
Kent Category
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