大象传媒

I lived with my Grandma in a terraced house in the industrial south east part of London - Kent, as my mother had died in 1940 and my father, a skilled engineer, was working at Vickers Dartford on war equipment etc.

We had a shelter in the back garden half visible and half buried under ground. I remember vividly the sirens going,the noise of bombs dropping ( we were only a mile from BICC and other industrial factories) and being rushed into the shelters with my teddy bear. When we came out after the all clear there was debis everywhere , glass from windows, and schrapnel which as I recall was lethal as it was red hot.I can still recall the sounds of these bomb raids and all the panic and distress they brought.

After the V2 Doodlebugs started bombing London and our vicinity my father thought it was time to send me away from the turmoil, so I was evacuated to my aunt ( my mothers sister)who lived in Dordon Staffordshire and who was already looking after my sister since my mothers death. I know this period was very traumatic as I had lost contact with anyone I knew.

After the war was over I returned to Belvedere only to find out that my Grandma had died just before the end of the war. However my dads sister, who lived in the same street agreed to bring me up with her own family.This lady, Auntie Elsie, had in reality been looking after me when my Grandma was alive but of course I was too young to realize this.

So although I missed at least a couple of years schooling I was very blessed because I was brought up by a lovely humble Christian lady and any hangups I might have had regarding my war experience she minimised the impact,and taught me so much about family life.

When I look back and consider WW2 overall, I know that not only was God looking after England and inspiriring great men like Winston Churchill,(who knew it was his destiny) he was also looking after me.

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