大象传媒

My name is Pat Cameron (nee Pink) and during the war I lived at Winifred Road, Coulsdon. I wrote the following for my granddaughter as she had to write a biography of someone she knew . I decided to write down things that I remember happening to me at school.

When the war started in September 1939, I was 5 陆 and lived at Upper Caterham with my brothers Frank 7 陆 and John 6 months old. My dad was in the Merchant Navy reserve so was called up immediately war was declared. The start of the autumn term was delayed while shelters were built. In June 1940 we had moved to Coulsdon as Upper Caterham was in a danger zone, being near to Kenley Aerodrome and I went to Chipstead Valley School. Many children were evacuated 鈥� I don鈥檛 why we didn鈥檛 go.

When the Battle of Britain air attacks started in the summer of 1940 and we went back to school in September, we had to take our gas masks everywhere with us in their cardboard boxes with a string handle. We were told that if the air raid siren sounded when we were walking to and from school, we had to knock on the door of the nearest house and ask if we could go into their shelter. I only remember that happening once. We only lived 10 minutes from the school but we were not allowed to go home at midday for lunch and had to take a packed lunch. I always had cheese and brown sauce sandwiches . At school we always had our 1/3rd pint little bottles of milk at playtime but can鈥檛 remember what drink we had with our sandwiches 鈥� probably water. I just don鈥檛 remember having lemonade or fruit juices. We could have had an apple as it was autumn and apple time but we hardly ever had an orange as these had to be brought to this country by ship and shipments of bananas were kept for babies and young children who had an illness which prevented them drinking milk or having dairy products.

There were many air raids and occasionally bombs and incendiary bombs were dropped but fortunately nothing too terrible locally. Canadian soldiers were camped in the woods behind Winifred Road and their heavy guns used to sound when enemy planes were going over.

I do remember on one occasion, probably in 1944, when the headmaster came into the classroom and spoke to the teacher. I was then called out and when I got outside the classroom door, my Dad was there in his uniform. He had got 24 hours leave and I was given the rest of the day off. I think this was just before D-Day 鈥� 6th June. At school we always had an assembly every day 鈥� hymn and prayer I suppose. I always had a job not to cry when we sung the sailors鈥� hymn 鈥� 鈥淓ternal Father strong to save鈥� with its last line 鈥淥 hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea鈥�.
I still get tears in my eyes even writing this. .

Dad鈥檚 ship 鈥淓mpire Spearhead鈥� was the second ship to land soldiers onto the beaches at Normandy and was backwards and forwards to Mulberry Harbour when it was put in place. However, the ship was damaged at the harbour in a bad storm in November and he was in the U.K. while it was repaired. At that time we three children all had Mumps but one after the other so the infection spread over two months with incubation periods between us. I鈥檓 sure he was home for Christmas 1944.

Then in the late summer, the 鈥渄oodle bugs鈥� (V1 rockets) started. When the air raid siren went in the middle of the night, we all went downstairs into the indoor Morrison shelter. (At the beginning of the war we had a brick shelter in the garden). This was a cage about the size of a double bed with a steel or iron table top and wire mesh sides, designed by an MP, Herbert Morrison. Now these 鈥渄oodle bugs鈥� were like a little plane but had no pilot. They were filled with explosive and fired like rockets across the English Channel. They continued flying until their fuel ran out and their engine stopped. Then they would drift down and explode. We didn鈥檛 know what was happening as this was something completely new. It was horrible to hear the 鈥渄oodle bugs鈥� and then the silence when the engine stopped and you didn鈥檛 know where they would land. On the first day, the all clear siren didn鈥檛 go until about 2 pm the following afternoon so we didn鈥檛 go to school that day. We had a cat who also liked to go into the shelter with us and sometimes we didn鈥檛 know whether the purring noise was the cat or a 鈥渄oodle bug鈥�! These were later followed by noiseless V2 rockets so were very frightening when they exploded without any warning.

One day at school, (I was in the top class of the junior school then), someone opened the door and said 鈥淒idn鈥檛 you hear the siren? Get to the shelter鈥�. Our class had only just sat down in the shelter when there was an almighty explosion and the entrance and part of the shelter roof fell in. A 鈥渄oodle bug鈥� had landed in the field just behind the school. We had never heard the 鈥渄oodle bug鈥� as its engine had cut out some distance away. My Mum and a neighbour had seen it gliding down and thought it was going to hit the school. So there must have been a panic amongst the grown ups. I remember screaming. Grown ups arrived from everywhere and I remember a man in an airman鈥檚 uniform taking me to my Grandma鈥檚 house which was halfway on my way home and then she took me home. Grandma had been bombed out in London in 1940 and had moved to Coulsdon near us. So the school was shut and repaired. We had some windows blown out in our own house at that time too.

Of course we didn鈥檛 go to school on the 8th May 1945 when the war in Europe finished. We lived up a hill and that night we looked over the valley and saw all the lights of the houses for the first time since moving there in 1940. A lot of people were out and about and we had bonfires. When the Japanese war finished in August 1945, a street party was organised and we had rows of long tables and chairs along the road. Somehow our Mums managed to make lovely sandwiches, cakes and jellies which suddenly appeared on the tables and we had fancy hats and flags and red, white and blue decorations strung up between the lampposts.

In the spring of 1945, Dad鈥檚 ship was part of a convoy taking an aerodrome out to the Far East. When the Japanese war finished we thought he would return home, but it was February 1947 before he returned to the U.K.

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