大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by a volunteer on behalf of Mrs Eileen Reeves and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was aged 7 years old at the outbreak of the war and lived in Sanderstead, Surrey which was quite a country area at that time.
Before the war started we could see across our garden to the first house in a cul-de-sac; in one of the bedrooms there was a telescope and a big easel set up in the window. The woman who lived in the house was a doctor and was German. When I had Measles, she came to our house and I apparently went berserk, said she was a nasty lady and I didn鈥檛 like her.
Just before the war was declared, the man, their daughter and the doctor vanished overnight. Folks put 2 and 2 together and realised that the old man used to walk around the garden at night, shining a torch. They worked out that the telescope was pointing towards Kenley aerodrome and it was confirmed that they were spies and that he had been signalling to aircraft.

Digging a hole one Sunday for the Anderson Shelter to fit into, the air raid sirens went off so Dad put a red Butcher鈥檚 shop blind to cover us up as we crouched in the hole 鈥� often had a laugh about that! My brother who was 5 then thought that the Germans would come over the garden fence as he had seen in our Gran鈥檚 World War One 1d weekly magazines.

When finished the shelter was well equipped with a corrugated iron cover to the front and railway sleepers to form a kitchen/store. Electricity was laid on with a circuit breaker in case we were bombed. A big trunk contained emergency rations 鈥� contents all listed on the lid, and it was a real treat to have a tin of salmon or sliced peaches for a special occasion.

Got into trouble for not taking my shoes off one day then discovered that water was coming in through the floor, although it had been water-proofed and concreted. Everything was soaked, didn鈥檛 take long to fill up so we had to abandon ship. Shame really as it was very cosy down there.

D-Day Memories
I remember an army convoy drawn up along the roadside and soldiers walking around. My Dad, who had fought in the first war, was handing out cigarettes and sweets etc. over the garden gate. I can remember him saying 鈥淚 wonder how many of those poor souls will be coming back home鈥� Not long before my brother and I had been page and bridesmaid at a posh wedding. The Best Man was involved in the invasion. It struck me when I heard that he had been killed on the beaches that that was what my dad had meant.

Gas Masks.
One evening, we all went along to the Fire Station to be fitted for a Gas Mask. Quite an atmosphere as we sat on the running board of the old fashioned engine. Looking up you could see the enormous wheel of the turntable ladder. The children鈥檚 pink Mickey Mouse styles and 鈥榖aby bags鈥� caught my eye. Still have my old black gas mask which may have been updated at a later date.

My Mother鈥檚 sister was involved in the Red Cross and Mum and I did our bit by knitting I had the task of producing an army scarf in plain knitting that went on for ever! Remember feeling so pleased when Mum edged the ends with a fringe, then I had to write a letter to an unknown soldier. I got a reply so it really was worth the effort, I often wondered whether he came back home safely 鈥� I hope so.
The Battle of Britain was on and we could see the dog fights overhead. A German plane was shot down in the fields at the back of us and I recall looking down into the crater it made. My Father was in the Royal Flying Corps in WW1 but was exempt this time as he had an important job. He was an Air Raid Warden and Fire Fighter so was very often out at night putting out incendiary fires.
Kenley and Biggin Hill aerodromes were being bombed, we were in the line of fire so my parents decided to move to West Wickham in Kent 鈥� not much better there though, still we were lucky not to have been bombed.
I was enlisted to take part in an ARP mock raid one night. With a label tied on, I was placed at the end of one of the bomb sites and had to wait for someone to find me. Having read about my injuries I was treated and taken to the United Dairies to be inspected. I felt quite cheated as I only had a sing on my arm while everyone else seemed to have loads of bandages!
When I was about ten, one of our classmate鈥檚 fathers was returning from night time Air Raid Duty when the vehicle he was travelling was hit by a bomb. A house nearby was also demolished and everybody in it was killed. The side wall was left standing and I couldn鈥檛 help wondering how the mirror, pictures and two fire places in the bedroom were still in place. The shock of our friend losing her father hit all the class.
Can still feel the panic one had when the sirens went in the night and we had ventured up to sleep in our beds as a treat. One time I could not return as a bomb blast had smashed the windows and brought the ceiling down on my bed.

Doodle Bugs
One night as we were huddled in our indoor shelter, we were aware of an unusual rattling sound. Dad made a comment about it being something new, and then it stopped. The next thing we heard was a huge thud. We learnt next day that 鈥楾he Bugs鈥� had started. My brother got himself an unofficial job as an Air Raid Warden. At times Bugs came without any siren warning, but you could hear them approaching and armed with a large old fashioned motor horn, Dan would sound the alarm and alert neighbours.

V2s
These were more deadly and schools organised an evacuation programme. Those who were interested went to school shelters for a medical and before we knew much about it, we were being fitted out with new shoes and coats. In no time at all the day arrived for us to board the bus at the school to take us to London. There was a lot of singing but apart from not knowing the words, I did not feel like joining in.
With labels flapping, gas masks over our shoulders and carrying cases, we boarded a steam train, and when we arrived at our destination, it was Doncaster. From there we headed to Skelow, which was more in the country and a mining community. There we had tea in the Church Hall. Then the sorting process began 鈥� I was 11 at the time and was not going to be parted from my brother, so it was difficult to place us. Only one or two of us were left and I shall never forget the awful feeling I had.
We went first to a little miner鈥檚 cottage where one of the family had to sleep in the bath to make room for us. Looking back, it must have caused a lot of trouble for those kind people. But if my Mum and Dad were going to be blown up, so was I and I just wanted to go home.
My Sunday school teacher gave me a pile of different coloured paper from her family printing business and I wrote very woeful letters home, all splashed with tears. When my Mum died we discovered that she had kept them all.
I had just gone up from the Brownies to the Guides and a local Guide Captain, involved with evacuees, came to my rescue. She had us moved to a modern house to a couple whose daughter was in the Army.
My first distraction was to go with the guides to camp at Pontefract under canvas, something we could not do at home. One of the camp fire stories has stayed with me and when I hear the songs we sang then, memories come flooding back to me.
Our first billet was right across the road from the Pit Head, but the slag heap was an attraction for everyone. We used to run up the heap (the side away from the road) dodge the overhead buckets as they travelled along the cable to be tipped out at the end and must have got filthy.
It seemed ages before I unpacked my suitcase; I kept it under my bed ready to take with me when I walked across the fields to where I could see the trains. My idea was to follow the tracks to get back home!!
Many years later, unbeknown to each other, my brother and I stopped off as we went away on holiday, to show our families the coal mine and where we were evacuated. We both had a shock to discover that the pit head had gone and it was now a green field.

I was 12 in August by which time we had settled in and become part of the scene, but in the November, my legs were scalded in an accident and our parents had us home. Funny how long time is when you are young. I sat in the dining room at home where everything was unfamiliar and my parents strangers.

Arnhem Landing
From our back door, we watched streams of planes and gliders heading (as we later found out) to Holland. When many years later, we moved to Dorset we got to know one of the survivors who was injured and made a Prisoner of War. Funny to think of him as a young man up there in one of those gliders as we looked up in West Wickham.

VE Day
There were big celebrations: one event was held in the local park and organised by US soldiers. My school friend and I entered the talent contest and high up on a platform we gave a rendition of 鈥淢ares eat oats and Does eat oats and little lambs eat Ivy鈥�. Never could get the hang of that song, but it did get us a handful of sweets.

Shortages

I stood in so many queues when things were on offer; I even stood in queues for cat food. I can still remember the smell of boiled fish heads and then seeing the eyes pop out was something else.
Bananas: these were something that we had never seen before and we gloated over them, however small the taster was. A girl in my class and her brother came to school with 2 bananas each, to be shared out 鈥� their father had just returned safely having been at sea for a long time. I can still see the slither the teacher placed on my tongue; it just seemed to melt away so I didn鈥檛 really taste it.

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