- Contributed by听
- Civic Centre, Bedford
- People in story:听
- Eunice Hall
- Location of story:听
- London
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A5104324
- Contributed on:听
- 16 August 2005
[鈥淭his story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Annika from Cedars Upper School on behalf of Eunice Hall and has been added to the site with her permission. Eunice Hall fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions鈥.]
I was seven when the war broke out and I lived in Stretham, London. We spent a lot of time in an Anderson Shelter at the bottom of the garden. My cousin came and he asked what we were doing in the Anderson shelter; I said we鈥檙e sheltering from the bombs and he said come on out cause I want an apple pie. That鈥檚 the way we looked at life. I never went to School during the time because of the air raids which continually happened. After a time it became impossible to bear so we made our way to a tube station nearby and slept on the platform. We had to be there before 4.30 pm. We took our blankets, pillows, food, etc and stayed there until 6.00 am. After 4.30 pm the large doors were closed so there was no way anybody could come in pr we could go out. It enabled us to have, some sleep and not to hear the bombs falling. We used to have walked home and be able to kick the shrapnel. I still have cone shaped shrapnel of a bomb. We used to go up the street and turn the corner. My Mum used to say to me: 鈥淚n a moment when we turn the corner we will know if our house is still standing.鈥 It was very cramped in the tube station. The toilets were all very crude. It was a community where lots of young people are together and we were all happy and laughing.
1939-i was seven years old. In 1942 we were evacuated, my mother and I, to a farm near Whaddon. Because of the experience we had been through, my Mother still made us sleep under a wooden table until finally we were allowed to sleep in our own beds.
I had to walk to School for 3 miles over the fields and we walked to the Village School. We had a classroom which was warmed by an open fire with a guard around it to keep us safe. The bombs came down and in London we didn鈥檛 know where, so we were watchful afterwards to where the bombs had landed, to collect some more Shrapnel.
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