大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Laya Sasikumar from CSV on behalf of Daphne Martin and has been added to the site with her permission. Daphne Martin fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Even before the war actually started I remember overhearing my father telling my mother 鈥淒on鈥檛 tell Daphne there鈥檚 going to be a war鈥�. So I knew to some extent that war was going to break out it was just a matter of when it would actually happen.

I remember sitting down in our living room and listening to the radio when the Prime Minister made the announcement that the war had broken out. To our surprise almost immediately after, the air-raid sirens went off alerting us of the presence of enemy air-crafts. My father immediately took charge and led us all to a rail-way arch in New Malden near where we lived. He said that if the arch had managed to stand the weight of trains for so many years, it would stand the weight of bombs as well 鈥� well it was definitely safer than our house. When we got there, we found that most of the neighbours had had a similar idea as well! In the end, it turned out to be a false alarm as one of our planes had been mistaken for a German one!

As soon as we got home, my father and brother went into the garden and started digging out a shelter. My father, Alfred Martin, had fought in the First World War, so he was well accustomed to digging trenches and hiding from bombs.

I was never evacuated. I had an aunty in America who offered to take me in during the war. My parents did contemplate it, but then there was a speech put out by the Queen. She said that the princesses couldn鈥檛 leave without her, and she could never leave without the King, and the King would never leave England. As soon as my parents heard this, they decided that we should all stay together. If we were to sink, we should sink altogether!

My father joined the East Surrey Home-Guards, and because of his experience was quickly appointed to Sergeant. The parade ground was in Windsor Avenue 鈥� about two roads away from us. Every Sunday morning they had their training and you could hear dad shouting orders from our house!

The bombing in New Malden began in 1940 while I was still in primary school. The first bomb dropped on the 16 August 1940. It was a Friday and about four in the afternoon. I鈥檇 come home from school, and my mother had gone to get the weeks rations on her bicycle. She was coming home when the sirens went off. All of a sudden bombs started dropping. An aeroplane came down really low, and flew over New Malden station. They machine gunned anyone that was coming out of the station. Many people were killed there including a nun.

I was at home, so I went down in the shelter by myself. I think I was too young to be scared 鈥� I鈥檇 been taught to go down to shelter if the sirens went off so I did. My mother had gone to collect the weekly rations, and was cycling home like mad to try and get to me. She literally missed about three or four bombs. She was torn between saving herself or getting home to me. She took advice that my father had given us and got off her bike and laid down in a gutter with her hands over her head. She was really annoyed as well though because that weeks rations were scattered on the ground! Ten feet away from where she was hiding a bomb struck 鈥� luckily she survived.

My father was coming back from work about six in the evening 鈥� that鈥檚 when he realised that bombs had struck us. He rushed home to see if we were okay. Luckily our road didn鈥檛 get hit 鈥� I was safely hiding in the shelter.

A bit further into the war, the Germans started bombing using V1鈥檚 and V2鈥檚 which were like rockets. I remember seeing one whilst I was at Tiffin Girls School 鈥� when we couldn鈥檛 make it to the shelter in time. As long as you heard the buzzing of the bomb you knew you were safe 鈥� it was only when it stopped the noise that you were really in trouble.

Most nights we鈥檇 hear the air- raid sirens going off. But usually they were planes heading towards London, so we never knew exactly where it would hit. It was strange because everything went on as normal. School never closed, and we just tried to get on with our everyday lives.

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