大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Jenny Ford on behalf of Mrs. Myra Webb and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

Well, I鈥檇 just started school when the war started and I lived in London, in Hampstead. My father was in the Police. I don鈥檛 remember the initial starting but then I was evacuated from London to Scotland and to Wales. And I remember, because I was brought back from time to time, and the night my sister was born I remember the doodle bug coming over and us waiting for it to stop and it stopped and it annihilated a block of flats a bit further away. But that鈥檚 all I remember really and our school being bombed, things like that and my father telling me stories about - because we had air raid shelters in the flats.

I was terrified! The night my sister was born, because she鈥檚 ten years younger than I am, my father took me out in the flats up onto one of the levels and that鈥檚 when this one (the doodle bug above fell) but I didn鈥檛 know which was worse because my mother was making a hell of a noise in the flat so I didn鈥檛 know whether I was better in with her or out with the doodle bugs, but yes, I was very frightened, yes, yes.

I went to an uncle in Dumfries, Scotland and my mother came too, we were there 18 months. It was alright, yes great and Wales I鈥檝e got a lot of family in Wales. I suppose of the war years I probably spent about a year and a half in London, in Hampstead so we did see a lot and there was a lot of noise. I鈥檝e got hearing problems, there was a lot of noise and of crashing about and a lot of people were short of food and things, I remember that. I remember not having any nice things like you do now, too many nice things now. No chocolates, no sweets.

In London we were in a big block of flats. We had got some shelters there, built on the ground. We had not really enough for the whole of the flats because there were five blocks of flats and there wasn鈥檛 really enough if everybody wanted to go there. And one of them was actually hit one night and my father went in and a lad had lost his leg and my dad told us that in great detail so I remember that that this lad had lost his leg. So one of the shelters did get a direct hit. But I do remember it was quite a frightening time for a youngster really. I was quite happy to be away in Scotland and Wales really.

The other thing, we did go down the Underground Station quite a lot to sleep. Well, you just saw so many people and you just sort of laid, there was no space really in between you. There were a few bunks by the wall, they seemed to have a few bunks along the wall but otherwise everybody slept on the platform. So we went now and again, I think when my mother or father thought it was going to be really bad they鈥檇 take us down there, but we didn鈥檛 like it, so we didn鈥檛 go there very often. We didn鈥檛 want to go anymore you know. Because if anybody had to rush out, even as a child you thought, there鈥檚 no way because everybody was so close together. If there was something hit or something you wouldn鈥檛 be able to get out anyway you know so. I don鈥檛 know if they were a very good idea, the Underground.

I don鈥檛 remember it as being very nice. It wasn鈥檛 exciting. You would think a child would think, oh, this is good all these people together but it wasn鈥檛 really, it wasn鈥檛 exciting. It was a bit scary really. But we did go down there quite a lot in Hampstead.

We had little mickey mouse masks, we schoolchildren had. I hated the smell. The smell of the gas mask yes, it was horrible. When you were a child and you had to put your face in there. I still remember them having making me put it on and the smell of it. The little children鈥檚 ones seemed to be stronger, I don鈥檛 know if they were different rubber or what? Of course, years on it鈥檚 probably gone off a bit.

My father stayed in the Police all through the war, so he never did leave, my mother left with us, but my father never did leave he was there all through it.

I remember the boys weren鈥檛 particularly scared because they were bigger than me, the bigger boys and they used to go up Hampstead Heath in a morning collecting the shrapnel and bring it back very proudly, you know, look at what I鈥檝e got, you know and bring back bits of aeroplane and things.

One of our schools was bombed down. We went to one school and that was bombed down so then we had to go to a school further afield. Yes, yes. But I went to school in Scotland and in Wales so my school was very interrupted you know I mean you never really got into it, even with making friends because you know you鈥檇 just make friends and then you鈥檇 move.

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