大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Sandra Beckett on behalf of Betty M Kenyon, the author, and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and condition.
I was 15 in August, 1939, and was visiting my French correspondent in Bordeaux when, on the 3rd September, I was in a small church at Cap Ferret when a gendarme entered and announced the war had been declared 鈥� my passport was immediately taken away as my surname was Giovanni and I had to remain there until December 1939 when the British Consul satisfied them that I was British. I was given 24 hours to leave. A journey by train to Dieppe and then boat across the Channel which put back twice because the French sailors said they had seen U-boats on patrol. Eventually reached Newhaven and evacuation 鈥� first to Folkestone, where the house was demolished by a shell, and then on to three years in Abertillery, S.Wales.
When working in the Civil Service in Woolwich I became a member of the Civil Defence and Nursing for Red Cross. There our office building was destroyed by a bomb and I sadly saw people killed by the explosion and had to help remove them from the ruins of their houses.
I had to travel by bus and tram from Chislehurst to Woolwich and one morning the tram drivers shouted 鈥渘o one sneeze or cough鈥� 鈥� drawing our attention to a land mine caught in a tree on the Common 鈥� swaying in the breeze. By the return journey the superb Bomb Disposal Squad had removed it.
We lived near Biggin Hill and in the days of the V1s 鈥� flying bombs 鈥� it was exciting to watch them chugging along with fire gushing from the tail, being chased by the young pilots from the Airfield who bravely tipped the V1s wings causing them to turn away from built up areas and to crash in fields 鈥� so brave of those young men.
In February, 1945, a V2 dropped near my home severely damaging my parent鈥檚 house a week before my we3dding to Ernest who had served six years in the Rifle Brigade 鈥� taking part in the first D-Day assault. Nearly all of my wedding presents were smashed 鈥� the ceilings were shattered and the roof of the house 鈥渞emoved鈥�!
The wonderful workmen with ark lights on lorries managed to cover all the damaged roofs with tarpaulins and saved the furniture.

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