大象传媒

I was five years old when World War was declared in 1939. The youngest of six children; my eldest brother was in the army and my eldest sister was married living in Barnehurst. We lived in Mayplace Avenue in Crayford, Kent.

On the night of 16th June at the age of ten, my three sisters, my brother, my niece, my mother and myself were in our Anderson Shelter and had been for many hours due to heavy air raids. Sometime after midnight there was a very loud explosion; my mother looked out of the shelter and said the house had gone! The V1 (or doodlebug as it was commonly called) had landed in the front garden next door to us, and we were all perfectly safe, but out of a family of twelve living next door but one, seven had been killed. The A.R.P. Wardens were worried because the gas had caught alight, but did not realise at the time that the V1 was a pilotless plane so it did not matter. My father was at work at the time and quite unaware of what had happened.

We were taken to the A.R.P. Warden to a public shelter in Crayford Way. As we only had our night clothes on we had to go to the W.V.S. in Crayford High Street to be clothed. Unbeknown to me, my future husband was with St John's Ambulance helping the injured that night!

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Helena Noifeld of 大象传媒 Radio Kent and has been added to the website on behalf of Sylvia May Eversfield with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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