大象传媒

(This story was submitted to the People's War site by Ceri Walker of Oxford on behalf of Mrs Margaret Jones and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Jones fully understands the Site's terms and conditions.)

Margaret Jones was living in a Children's Home in Shillingford when World War 2 broke out, and her first memory of it was the siren going off and the Officer shepherding the children to safety. Suddenly there was a 'terrific crash'. 'A neighbouring house had been 'sliced in half by a bomb, just as cleanly as if cut by a knife.' One man was in bed at the time and he was thrown up into the air by the explosion. Undaunted he called out 'You haven't got me yet!'.

After about a year Margaret was sent out into service in Shillingford. The house where she was worked was a down a long lane and was very lonely. Next to it was a big field where Italian Prisoners of War were living. The young Margaret found the proximity of these strange men very frightening.

One morning Margaret was cleaning the grate when she saw something falling past the window and heard a tremendous commotion. A British plane had crash landed in a tree and was wrecked. Sadly all three members of the crew had been killed.

Just as the War was ending, Margaret received her call up papers for the WRAF, but it was too late to join up. 'In a way I was disappointed', she recalls. 'I wanted to see what it would be like.'

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