大象传媒

Kent

Born in Kent, a port on the Thames, down the river from London.

Scotland

During September 1939 my mother, sister and I went to Perthshire to stay with friends near a tiny village. One day a man went into the Bakers Shop and asked where to find accommodation, he was told 鈥済o to the Police Station鈥�, this was quite normal, but the man panicked; the Baker and staff grabbed him and sent for the Police. We later found out that he was an enemy agent!

Yorkshire

My Father was stationed in Harrogate, he managed to find a house to rent, so all four of us moved in. I got a job as a temporary Civil Servant; this meant having to travel from Harrogate to London by train, so while doing this I stayed with friends in my home town. One night between London and Gravesend I saw oil Tanks on fire on the Essex side of the river.

Kent

During the later part of 1940 I resigned as a temporary Civil Servant to train to become a Nurse. I went to the Gravesend Hospital. We had to live in the Hospital, report to the Matron where we went on our days off and had to be in by 10 p.m., again reporting our arrival. If on night-duty, we had to get up when the air-raid sirens went off; this was soon stopped because we had too little rest.

After Dunkirk, we had wounded service men admitted; they were marvellous patients, always ready to help each other and the Nurses. Some had a bent sense of humour. One night I noticed a man sitting up in bed with a lighted cigarette. I knew the man in that bed had died and I knew I had to get into that ward; sure enough a cigarette was pinned to a pile of pillows. Another night there was a strange sound, the sirens had not sounded; a serviceman told me it was an unmanned aircraft, A.V1. There was an airfield in the locality and one day I saw a V.2 heading for London. A Spitfire flew past the V.2 flipped it round so that it was facing back the way in which it had come.

We also had civilian casualties, usually women; the U.S.A. sent clothing and we had a Dress Parade. One night a woman kept asking 鈥渉as my husband been admitted鈥�, he had not. He was brought in the next day, when the casualty station was sorting out the 鈥渄ead鈥�, he was found to be alive!

We saw the Mulberry Harbour pass the hospital and on V.E. Day, the watermen towed a tar filled dingy, on Fire through the streets and down to the beach.

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