大象传媒

This story was submitted to the site by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk. The author has given her permission and fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was married, and my baby was born in 1939. (Her name is Sandra, she is sixty-five and a grandmother now!)

My husband, Edward, was in reserved occupation in London. I stayed home with Sandra. We lived in Hammersmith. I remember sitting under the stairs, shaking like a leaf while my husband was out putting out fires. When I look back it's a wonder we got through what we did.

My husband was sent to Coventry when they were being badly bombed. He was there for about three or four weeks.

He was home one night when there was a raid. We heard a huge crash, a row of houses in the street were demolished. He lay us down and covered us. He then told me to go to my mother, who lived just outside of London. She wasn't home when I got there, so I just sat on the step and cried.

I spent nine months in Blackpool at his mother-in-law's boarding house. She had twenty airmen in at the time, and my job was to clean the toilets.

At another point during the war, my husband was posted in Lichfield. We lived in a cottage there, which was nice because we were away from the air raids.

During the war people used to give my husband presents when he made rescues.

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