大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People War鈥檚 site by Alison Stewart of CSV Media on behalf of Donald Phillips and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

In the Air Raid shelter
I was just seven in 1939. When there was a siren we would put we would put our clothes on over our pyjamas and go down to the air raid shelter in my grandmother鈥檚 garden, as we didn鈥檛 have one in our garden but our grandmother lived with our aunt at the next house but one.

One night, my brother Jack was sure there would be a raid that night, so he didn鈥檛 bother to undress, he just put his pyjamas on over his clothes. When our Mother came to get us down in the shelter she couldn鈥檛 find Jack鈥檚 clothes, so she got another set out and bundled him up in another layer of clothes.

As it was March or April time by then, Jack got warmer and warmer in his bunk, and was beginning to sweat profusely. My mother was getting rather worried, and went to undo his collar 鈥� only to find another shirt beneath, and probably a vest beneath that!

Running away home
I was first evacuated on the 1st September 1939 about the same time that Germany invaded Poland. My brother Jack and I were evacuated to Sittingbourne, which was 8 miles nearer the enemy! We spent about 3 months there, and the people we were with didn鈥檛 have any children. We went to school there for a few months, and came home in December, in time for Christmas.

Jack, who was a few years older than me, just coming up to his 10th birthday, was out for a walk one day, when he saw a sign saying Bredhurst, and thought 鈥� I know my way home from here鈥� . So he walked all the way home, which was about 10 鈥� 12 miles away!

My mother was surprised to see Jack, my brother, and his friend Brian, turn up at the door. They were just sitting down to tea, enjoying bread, jam, jelly and custard, when there was a knock at the door, and a policeman turned up to tell my mother that one of her sons had been reported missing. She laughed uproariously, according to my brother, and the policeman was somewhat bemused. When he asked why she was laughing, she replied that the missing boy was right there!

When my father came home from work, he had to get his car out and take the boys back. He wasn鈥檛 very pleased, what with petrol being rationed.

Sighting Biggles!
On the 2nd June 1940 we were evacuated again, to Abercarn, in South Wales. Jack had passed for the local mathematical school, and he had to move on to Porthcawl. I had a fine time here, it was like a 2 year holiday, interrupted by schooling.

I went out for a walk one October Saturday morning, and was warned not to walk up in the mountains. That was like a red rag to a bull. It was a bit dull and overcast, and I wasn鈥檛 wise in the way of the mountains, otherwise I might not have gone, as the weather can quickly turn. Whilst up in the mountains, I heard an aeroplane engine, which seemed to be coming from below me. Peering through a clearing, I saw a Gloucester Gladiator flying down the valley, and as I was higher up than him, I could see right down into the cockpit. I can still remember the sight of him, with his helmet and his goggles. I was flabbergasted, and really excited, but because I shouldn鈥檛 have been there, I couldn鈥檛 tell anyone, and it was only years later that I told anyone about this experience.

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