大象传媒

It must have been about 1940 when I first remember the Second World War. I was about 4 1/2 years old and we, my mother and I, lived in Hampstead, London NW3. I had returned home to my mother having spent almost 2 years away as an evacuee. A year with my father's parents in Nottingham and the next, 1938-9 with my maternal grandmother in Chester. By the end of those two years it seemed that "nothing was happening" and it was safe to return to London.
Almost immediately the "war proper" began, and I have recollection of hearing the 'Ack-Ack' guns on Hampstead Heath. I asked my mother whether that sound was the Germans knocking an the front door. The noise was exceptionally loud that night and my mother took me from my bed, wrapped in an eiderdown, to the small space behind the front door at the bottom of the first flight of stairs. The house was a narrow, three storied Georgian terrace type and tucked in beside a large Victorian public house. This shielded us from much vibration and stood on the right hand side of the main road leading from Hampstead Tube station to the Whitestone pond eventually to Golders Green or Highgate. We were 4 miles from St. Paul's Cathedral.

When we woke up the next morning the whole road was covered with pieces, large and small, of broken glass. Nearly all the shop windows were smashed. I can remember the loud sound of the road sweepers clearing up all that glass.
There was often the sound of bombs falling and exploding throughout the nights. I was told that they were aiming for the Main Railway Stations of Euston and Paddington, comparatively nearby. My mother never disturbed my nights'sleep again--I was never taken from my bed and slept throughout the noise,although many neighbours took bedding and essentials down to our deep Tube platforms below Hampstead. I watched V1s passing overhead, hearing their engines stop and soon afterwards the explosion. Who knows where that would be? An eerie attack causing many deaths.
When I was a little older, I was allowed to go with my bicycle and friends to the Heath. Our parents ordered us to return home immediately the Alarm sounded, which gave us 3 minutes. We had to remain at home until the All Clear sounded. It was like a game and we didn't fully realise the risks, being so young. I only missed one day of school which was a mile away. The near-by Marie Curie Hospital was flattened by a bomb, with patients and staff being killed.
At school, whenever there was a Warning, we school children were ordered underneath desks and tables. Not much protection would have been provided by the flimsy furniture,had we been attacked. I remember the gas masks and the identity cards we carried, unused luckily.
My mother divided rations of butter, cheese and sugar, etc between members of the household. Longed-for sweets were replaced by lozenges and cough sweets which did not need any precious coupons. It is said that we children had better health and teeth than ever before, or since, the war. I also remember buying my first (single) banana.
The war ended in 1945, fathers returned home and I recall going with my mother to Euston (or was it Paddington?) to try to pick out my father. He separated himself from several others, opened his arms and picked me up. Then I recognised him and understood that the War was really over. I was eight years old and very proud of my 'Major' Father.

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