大象传媒

Explore the 大象传媒
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

大象传媒 Homepage
大象传媒 History
WW2 People's War Homepage Archive List Timeline About This Site

Contact Us

Diary of an 8 year old

by A_Boughton

Contributed by听
A_Boughton
People in story:听
Albert James
Location of story:听
Southend, Essex
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A7069629
Contributed on:听
18 November 2005

As an 8 year old I was not evacuated, and spent many days roaming the streets looking for shrapnel, which I would swap with my friends for plane pieces or bullets. I saw a Stooker aircraft zooming along Southend High Street; I was scared.
A spitfire crashed by Southend Pier (could still be there) and saw the pilot bale out.
There were guns in the street, soldiers used to live in empty houses.
Heinkel crashed near the railway bridge; a spitfire brought it down.
We could see the German pilots sitting at the controls as they flew past.
There wasn鈥檛 much food and seemed to live in the air raid shelter.
There was tape on the windows and lights were not allowed, in fact you were really shouted at if you put a light on. I was an only child and found it frightening on my own.

Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.

Forum Archive

This forum is now closed

These messages were added to this story by site members between June 2003 and January 2006. It is no longer possible to leave messages here. Find out more about the site contributors.

Message 1 - Diary of an 8 year old

Posted on: 18 November 2005 by Audrey Lewis - WW2 Site Helper

Dear Albert James,
I was interested in your story. You have a good memory for detail. It must have been a frightening time for you. Eight year old boys today will have no idea what you went through unless they are able to read stories like yours? Thank you for letting me read your story.
Kind regards,
Audrey Lewis

Archive List

This story has been placed in the following categories.

Diaries Category
icon for Story with photoStory with photo

Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the 大象传媒. The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. For any other comments, please Contact Us.



About the 大象传媒 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy