大象传媒

Mrs. P. Cooper of Ewell

My memories

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I was born in Dulwich and my first recollections of the 1st World War was when I was being held up at a bedroom window looking for Zeppelins. My mother was very scared and so we lodged at Leatherhead, Surrey near the station. In the summer of 1918 I can remember waving a flag to celebrate the Armistice.
In 1939, my boyfriend Denis came home on leave from the TA and suggested we got married and this we did on Boxing Day at St. Mary's Church, Ewell, Surrey.
Within six months of his joining the TA he was a Captain and finished up as a Lieutenant Colonel. As an engineer, he was in charge of workshops repairing the anti aircraft guns in the south east. He repaired anything, except the big guns and tanks. We lived all over the south east.
During the Battle of Britain, I was standing at the front door wearing my "battle bowler" watching a dog fight. There was a loud explosion. A German bomber had dumped its load. During this time there were at least three fire bombs and many high explosives, some with a delayed fuse which exploded in the vicinity. On another occasion I was standing outside the house with my father when we heard this strange sound like nothing we had ever heard before and this thing came flying over our heads. "Christ", said my father. "Its an aerial torpedo." It was, of course, a flying bomb and it exploded in Kiln Lane. Two went off in Longdown Lane and three houses were blown to pieces.
My husband was sent to Lydd on a course - I had learned never to ask questions as to what he actually did. He was to be there for three months so I joined him, staying in a bungalow right on the beach which was deserted except for my nearest neighbours which were two Lewis guns. It occurred to me at the time that Herr Hitler could have come anywhere along that shore as there was no-one around. We used to watch the Dutch ships going along the Channel painting the ships grey as they sailed.
In 1942 my husband went to Algiers, moving slowly along the coast to Tunisia. From there, he was sent to Italy, landing at Naples looking for a suitable site for a workshop in the south. Whilst in this area, he and three friends drove up to Vesuvius to see how near they could get to the summit as the volcano had recently erupted. He even bought me back a piece of lava which I still have.
On another occasion whilst we were walking in the lanes in Bramley I heard from an open window the voice of Winston Churchill when he made that memorable speech "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Even now my eyes mist over when I remember this.
In 1945 Denis was sent to demilitarize all the Nazi factories which had been built in some very strange places.

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