大象传媒

Wartime memories of Audrey Johnson

I was on the East Cliff with my Dad when war was declared on 3rd September 1939 at 11a.m. The air raid warning was sounded. An Air Raid Warden in full kit came rushing up and told us to take cover. My Dad said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 be daft it has only just started鈥�. I was 8 戮 years old.

We were all issued with gas masks and had to take them everywhere with us. We also had Identity Cards.

All the street lights were turned off, not to go on again until six years later.

Next all the street names were removed, so that any spies wouldn鈥檛 know where to go. We weren鈥檛 allowed to direct anyone either. We all had to have Black-out Curtains at all the windows, not a chink of light was allowed through.

We had a Morrison Indoor Shelter. Which was a large steel table, with a cage at the sides to stop any rubble coming on to us.

At first children from London were evacuated here to Folkestone, after a short while it was decided that it wasn鈥檛 safe here, so these, and our local children were mostly sent to Wales.

All our house railings were removed to go towards making ammunition.

In June 1940 the bombing was getting regular, so Dad took us all to Middlesex. There we were caught up in the London raids. We came back to Folkestone June 1941.

The Germans also would machine gun anything that moved. We used to watch the 鈥楧og Fights鈥� overhead.

The Fishmarket was closed off. People living there had to have a special permit to allow them through, as did our Dad, John Fagg, as he was a fisherman, and had been since he was 11 years old. During the war the fishermen used to give an amount of fish for the airmen at Hawkinge.

All our schools were closed, but my Mum managed to find a small private school, so I had to go there. I lived in Harvey Street. All Dover Street now Harbour Way was in ruins, through either landmines or bombs. We children used to play in ruins (unknown to our mums).

As the children filtered back, our local schools opened, just for half a day at first. We had to have some lessons in the East Cliff Pavilion, out in the glass covered veranda at the rear, not really safe was it?

When the shelling started, we were all sent home from the school. The first shell had to drop before the double siren could sound; and we had to wait half an hour after the last one had dropped before the all clear could sound. The soldiers used to practise in the Dover Street ruins, throwing all the thunderflashes around.

We watched the first Doodlebugs come over, not knowing what they were. We thought it was aeroplanes that had their tails on fire. They were very frightening, more so if the engine stopped, as then they just glided on to explode. Our pilots and the guns managed to turn some of them around, so that they went back over the channel.

The landmines destroyed most of the Harbour Area.

We were waiting at Folkestone Junction Station for a train to London, when a lot of trains full of wounded soldiers passed through. Dad said they were from Dunkirk. We all stood and waved at them.

One of our fishing boats was blown up by a sea mine, all Hands lost.

The sound of our aeroplanes gave us great comfort as we knew they were looking after us. What a good thing we weren鈥檛 joined to France then, at least our coastguards could see any foreign boats coming, and could warn the powers that be.

My sister was in the Land Army, my brother in the Merchant Service.

When the shelling and bombing got bad we went out to Etchinghill to sleep and stay weekends. The Elham Valley rail was operating then. Mum used to make sandwiches and as the train approached the Folkestone Station Central, there was a gun emplacement, Dad used to pass these sandwiches out of the window to the soldiers. They were always there waiting for them.

Even with all the servicemen around there wasn鈥檛 all the violence and robbery as there is today. No-one used to lock their doors as it wasn鈥檛 necessary.

One morning I was late getting ready for school, and at the time I would normally have been walking through the brickfields a tip and run raider came over and dropped a bomb there. So, through being late my life was saved: The gasometers were then in use in the brickfields. The tip and run aircraft were used to just fly over the coast, drop their bomb and fly back again.

Very often when my sister and I were cycling along Cheriton Road the Germans would fly over. We would take cover in the Archway at entrance to the cemetery. This archway is no longer there. ` This story was submitted to the PEOPLES WAR site by Larry Liddiard volunteer of the Folkestone library team on behalf of Audrey Johnson and has been added to the site with her permission. The arthur fully understands the site terms and conditions

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.