大象传媒

I was eight years old in 1941 and living in Dartford. After we were bombed out in 1941 we moved to a cheap 1930s semi-detached rented house in Chastiliann Road which was not only near a large sand extraction pit in which children used to climb down and play, but also Dartford Heath. This was a marvellous place, we made 'dens'. There were rival gangs and we were often out all day, taking a thick sandwich of dripping (solidified fat and juice off meat) or if we were lucky, cheese.

People were not necessarily more honest back then. One day there was a bomb dropped in Crayford High Street and several people were killed including some school children queuing up to be given clothes as they were being evacuated to the country. One was a girl from our school; Nancy. A boy from my class and I were asked by the headmistress to take some flowers to her house for the funeral. We had bicycles but carefully pushed them across Dartford Heath to her home so as not to spoil the flowers. For some reason we got the address wrong and the flowers were left next door.

We heard later that the people never took the flowers to the bereaved family.

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Helena Noifeld and has been added to the website on behalf of Valerie Martin (nee Holman) with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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