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This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Jan Moore for Kent Libraries and Archives and Canterbury City Council Museums on behalf of Mr Anthony Larkins and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Before hostilities began,in 1938-39, I joined a party of sandbag fillers at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Herne Bay. This was under the auspices of Scoutmaster Mr Harrington and the group was made up of children. Sandbags were built up for civil defence and to protect the hospital windows from blast.

Herne Bay residents had to go to the Kings Hall to be fitted for their gas masks. These were standard civilian respirators, including the Micky Mouse masks for children and a special respirator for babies. It completely encased the baby and a hand pump was operated by the mother.

I remember a bombing incident in Sea Street, Herne Bay & Mr. Packer the cobbler being killed. This wasn't a deliberate raid, but a German pilot leaving his load, to make a hasty retreat over the sea. Our bungalow was opposite his shop and it was damaged by flying debris and interrupted our lunch!
We were evacuated immediately by a kindly gentleman in a car, accompanied by my school teacher Mr Cole, who also lived opposite.
I remember driving around and seeing the devastation; the thing that I remember mostly was the double bed hanging on the telephone wires, near to where his shop and business had been.

I recall, whilst living at that address in Central Avenue, the intrusion by a German pilot flying his ME-109 when he dived very low and flew along Central Avenue, as if intent on shooting the children playing in the area. Instead, he leaned from the canopy of the aircraft, pulled faces at us and made clawing gestures with his hands, like a lion. This incident was repeated by the same pilot, flying over the home of Mrs Neame at Bullockstone, whilst she was hanging her washing out!
His flying height was only about 200 feet, a scare tactic rather than a deliberate attack.

I remember the incendiary bombs dropped by the basketful from, allegedly, a British Sunderland flyingboat aircraft.These dropped over the railway station, the Grand Hotel and adjacent farm properties owned by Major Brierley. They also landed on ground which is now the Eddington allotments, the furthest being found on Herne Bay golf course. These were hastily marked by all of the kids who arrived on the scene and were then chased off by the police and firemen. They were unable to collect the souvenirs that they so wanted.

We had our share of tragedies; I think the first one was the Chase tragedy, where Mrs Chase and her daughter were killed on a Canterbury-bound double decker bus. The driver was wounded but the conductress was killed, just outside the city.

This was about the time poor Sissy Hills was killed, a local girl who was blown to pieces in the daylight raid on Canterbury. She was only identified by the jewellery found on her body, given by her devastated fiance,who was I believe an Indian nobleman from a princely family.
Another tragedy involved the Spelling family, out on the Home Guard training grenade range at Bishopstone. A blind being investigated was not so blind (dud),exploding and killing father and daughter; she was an off-duty nurse but visiting at the time. Billy King, an ARP first aider out walking his dog, was the first on the scene to render assistance. The remainder of the Home Guard was in a state of shock.

I recall local boatman Ninety Pressley and his involvement in the rescue and recovery of ditched airmen in the estuary.These rescues were effected by Ninety and the crew of his high speed motor boat, Dandy. He went from the Neptune jetty to all points between Herne Bay and the Channel forts located on the Shivering Sands, Red Sands and the Knock John Tower, off Margate. German and British survivors were recovered & returned to the jetty, where on arrival and usually wrapped in blankets, they were immediately treated for exposure and wounds dressed, then marched over to the New Dolphin public house. There, military or civilian police would ensure the disposal of Germans to a POW holding wing, or in the case of the British lads, to the nearest air station, usually Manston. Our boys were sometimes back in the air within the hour, full of sustenance supplied by the good offices of Mr Ken Standing, who I believe was the licensee.
The temporary mortuary for the unfortunates recovered, was an old garage housed in Eddington Lane, where a high wall screened the windows from the public. We could climb the wall and look at the shrouded bodies through a skylight window, to be chased off by the mortician whenever we were seen.

I remember Mr Lee, manager of the South Eastern Joinery Works and the production of wooden ammunition boxes, now the site of Busy B's in Beach Street. Hundreds of tons of timber were stacked immediately opposite, on the site behind the Victoria public house. The factory housed about 200 employees, manufacturing boxes for ammunition of all shapes and sizes, from hand grenades and small arms ammo to enormous shells, even bomb frames.
This reminds me of a Stanley Road resident and local carpenter, who made a wonderful replica of a Lee Enfield rifle for one of the lads at school, a neighbour of his. This lad was the envy of everybody!

An Observer Corps post, administered by local chemist Mr Gordon Brace, was located at the top of the Downs, adjacant to the 100 steps. This was a Report Centre for incoming reports of hostile and friendly aircraft. On one occasion whilst reporting in with a message, we witnessed the enormous air armada to Arnhem of gliders towed by Dakotas, Halifax bombers and numerous others. This had to be Sunday morning, 17 September 1944, at around mid-day.
Prior to this and certainly an event which gave our town additional war history, we had witnessed the extraordinary antics of different aircraft that looked as if they were bombing Reculver Towers. This, of course, was the famous testing ground of the Dambusters bouncing bomb, in the presence of Squadron Leader Guy Gibson and Mr Barnes Wallace. None of this was known to us at the time, we just happened to be on the marsh at the right time, collecting moorhen eggs to supplement our lack of eggs from chickens, which were not readily available.

I remember the Spitfire that exploded at around lunch time, over the golf course or thereabouts; the Polish pilot bailed out and was hit by a piece of debris from the aircraft, which was the cause of his death. His body landed in a field at the top of Margate Road, being recovered by Mr Prince.
I remember the dogfights and vapour trails in the air over Herne Bay during the Battle of Britain.

During the latter part of the War, came the arrival of the first German POW's sent to form the Labour Corps of agricultural workers, in many cases managed by our Womens Land Army. Who better than this bossy British woman, who knew exactly what needed to be done on the land and how to get it done right. These girls were marvellous and never received the recognition which was so deserved.
The controlling administration for the work was the responsibility of the KWAEC (Kent War Agricultural Executive Committee).
The camp was situated at Herne Common, on the south-west side of the village. Nissan huts were used for accommodation and cooking, they really looked after themselves. They drove their own Bedford three tonners, reporting to various farms in the area,in the company of WLA supervisors. I remember one POW, Freddy, in particular, as he taught me to milk a cow. He became the husband of a dear friend, Peggy, a Herne village girl, also a member of the WLA.

Many years later, I was to meet the relations of one of the Germans buried at a local cemetary. We were, at the time, shopping at the floating flower market in Amsterdam. A small world, as we got into conversation with a German family. I was asked to carry back a large box of tulips and plant them on the grave of one of their relatives.
This we did for the dozen or so graves that existed in Eddington cemetary at the time. They were exhumed at a much later date and taken to the national German war memorial in the Midlands, where they are still laid to rest.

The WLA, fraternising as they did at the end of the war, brought about numerous romances; courting resulted in very happy marriages between local girls and the German lads, the best known in the area being that of Peggy and Freddy.

A lot of these chaps worked on the construction and rebuilding of the sea wall between the Clock Tower and the Bandstand, in places as far as the Pier. Millions of granite setts were used in the repair or replacement of this section of promenade, which they achieved with their usual German efficiency.

Mr Postle, the Commissionaire of the Casino cinema in Herne Bay, would give us free entry to a film show if our usual crowd shovelled a ton or so of coke, delivered to the Dolphin yard just beyond the Casino wall, for the coke fire boilers and the cinema heating. Mr Pressley, the senior projectionist, was I believe an assistant manager. He always treated the German lads the same as anybody else with his friendly greetings. He appeared to speak a little German and amused them with his accent. We used to be admitted for the film and were seated together in one row if we could. This included Big Karl, Kurt, Gerhart, Dieter, Willie, Franz and of course Fred. Also, Herbie and Bert who were to become national footballers and the Brits, Reggie (Onion), Gus, John, Len and of course myself, with David my oldest mate.
We shared the pin-up girls of the day (mid 40's), that was a common interest for us as friends, German and British.

I recall the Clock Tower jetty gun pillboxes painted with amusing adverts, with a view to misleading the enemy. These were painted on the concrete structures and read (for the would be invader), "trays for the beach, a deposit of 2 shillings and 6 pence will be charged", "ice creams hot and cold, penny ones all tuppence each", "for your throats sake, smoke Craven A cigarettes" which some wag had altered to read, Craven Hay! Finally, "the Kodak girl will be here tomorrow". This showed the famous blue and white striped bathing suited beauty used for advertising Kodak film before the war.

An old neighbour of ours at the time, Harry Dallaway, recorded the lunchtime score board on one of his news vending boards, records of aircraft hostile and friendly, shot down that day. It amused people when they read Jerries 4, British 17, Ack Ack guns stopped play, resumed after a suitable tea break, or in the Germans case, black coffee! Harry also produced beautifully made baskets for the transportation of pigeons. These were used by the RAF bomber boys as messengers after a raid, rather than using radio transmissions.

Early summer 1944 saw loads of us local lads assisting the would be invasion force that was massing in South East England, in preparation for D-Day. The Downs, Beacon Hill, was used as a mass vehicle park for the purpose of waterproofing all classes of vehicle, for the engines and vulnerable parts which needed extra protection. This was done by mixing a form of putty, white and red, into a pliable mix like plasticine, which the soldiers applied where necessary. This task was also carried out at Herne Bay Court as it is known today, but was then known as Eddington College, owned and run by Captain Turner. During this time, one local lad Vinny, started the first Jeep trials, by driving off in one, until crashing it in Pigeon Lane and receiving a severe reprimand from the Headmaster of Kings Road Acadamy for Young Gentlemen, one W F Reynolds, affectionately known as "dear old pop".

Our one and only landmine brought half of Herne Bay's residents to the crater's edge, the morning after it exploded. The crater could have held 6-8 double decker buses and was bordered by Claremont Street and Grand Drive. Fitzgerald Avenue was built over part of the site. All of the houses in the area lost windows.

We used to listen to the radio for our entertainment of an evening, shows like "In Town Tonight" and "Band Wagon", or the 9 o'clock news.
These were followed by never understood messages that made little sense to anyone except listeners in occupied countries, such as Resistance networks who could easily interpret them. Comments such as "Aunty Dolly will be coming to tea Friday", or "There will be no pudding for Tuesday's lunch"; we didn't take a lot of notice.

There are still a few scars from the past in town, if you know where to look. The numerous stumps of iron, where garden railings used to be; the chiselled out disfigurement of place names in stone, seen in William Street for example.
That's another story, as is the history of our second (auxilliary) fire station in Sea Street, short lived but one did exist.It was located on the old Pickford's site, followed by Raabe's Garage after the war. The sub fire staion was managed, I believe, by Mr. Raabe Snr.

We had a number of public air raid shelters in the town, the best remembered being the large semi-underground one in Winches Field, at the east end of what is now Herne Bay football ground where council flats stand on the site.
Another stood on the surface, next to the Rodneys Head; that was an old nissan shape of arched corrugated steel, covered in sand and mud, with a blast wall of sandbags and concrete blocks at each end. Similar surface shelters stood at Gordon Road near the park and at Kings Road School.
Best of all was the one under the bandstand nicknamed "Adolf's Bath House" or that's what we nicknamed it, because at each high tide it flooded!

Emergency water supply tanks (EWS) wre put up at the beginning of the war. They held 22,000 gallons of water and came in two shapes, rectangular and round.
One stood next to Woolworths and another adjacent to the Drill Hall, on land behind the library. The biggest I recall was in the then empty field, which is now the Brian Roberts flats on Mortimer Street.

The tops of most pillar boxes were painted with mustard gas detector paint, supposed to turn from yellow to pink in the event of a sneak gas attack!

Did you have the chance to see WW2 films such as "One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing", "Target For Tonight" or "Five Graves To Cairo"? And of course, the terrible newsreels of the liberation of concentration camps discovered all over Europe; Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau & Auschwitz. We were forced to see them, because they were shown between the two feature films and they were shown for months after their discovery.

When you stop to think about the war and make a few notes, you recall the simple things, like the occasion when father came home on leave and on returning, left his rifle at home. It was returned very promptly by Grandfather, who marched it off to the Home Guard HQ in the High Street for safe custody. They were so pleased to see it, I rather think they thought he was donating it to them! They had so few weapons themselves at that time and there was Grandad hoping that they would let him keep it for the duration!

I recall the occasion when walking on the beach, before they barred us from access to it, with an old WW1 ex-army major who with his elderly wife, stayed with us. Mother was offered a rather large house in Beacon Road, when the Germans forced our move from Sea Street. This house was far too large for Mother, myself and my younger brother Jim, so Mother rented the top attic and third floor to this couple. He used to take me beach-combing along the foreshore. The finds we made were sometimes frightening, like the body full of shrimps and Mother was horrified.
Souvenirs such as lifebelts and Mae Wests, discarded by rescued pilots, had to be handed in to the authorities.

The sea defences were interesting and one type placed in the water about 500 yards from the high water mark, was the anti-invasion post. It was a 20 foot by 8 inch diameter pole sunk deep into the sand and mud, with an explosive charge attached to it; the idea being that an assault boat or invasion barge would hit it and explode on contact. If that failed, they would be caught in a sea of fire caused by the release of Fourgas, a type of oil that flowed from special oil drums hidden in the cliffs, gravity fed by pipeline to areas of sea, where it floated to the surface, igniting on contact with air.

Did you hear the corruption of the words to the song Rule Britannia, which goes like this, "Rule Britannia two tanners make a bob,three make eighten pence and four two bob"!

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