大象传媒

Jim Munro. Lived at Southend-on-Sea. Born in 1935.
I was about 4 at the outbreak of war. My memories are of the tank traps, barbed wire and the mine warnings on the beach. Our school was closed at one time to house soldiers, I think that was after Dunkirk. I remember many soldiers sitting on the kerbs, drinking tea and smoking, some of them appeared to be in pyjamas.
I remember going down to the shelter in the back garden and sitting on top of it on a sunny day watching the dog fights. Once a German fighter plane was diving towards us and I can remember seeing the flames along the wings as he fired at us and we all dived into the shelter all in a heap.
My father had joined the RAF at the outbreak and we only saw him on rare occasions. He was ground crew and came home wounded after the Battle of the Bulge. During the Battle of Britain the plane in the sky looked like crosses in the sky. The passed over us on the way home from London.
A stray bomb or two dropped in the next road destroying five houses but with no loss of life. Some of the boys in school lost fathers and other members of their family.
My mother organised V.J. and V.E day parties and I can remember the lights in the streets being switched on again.

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