大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Pat Mantell from Sidley UK Online Centre and has been added to the website on behalf of Irene Clark O.B.E. with her permission.

At the outbreak of war I was living at home and doing voluntary work with St John鈥檚 Ambulance Brigade as an untrained nurse. They asked for volunteers to go and work 5 nights a week in the London underground shelters which had been made available for residents to sleep at night to avoid the bombs which were expected to be dropped on the East End of London, the Docklands.

I went to live in Streatham and travelled nightly to the underground stations. We were located in a First Aid post at the end of the platform and had first aid equipment and a camp bed! Each night as it began to get dusk, the residents of the nearby houses came down into the station carrying bedding and precious possessions. Occasionally they brought a bird cage! They were cheerful Eastenders making the best of their lot. Many had been called up or were working 鈥渦pstairs鈥� as air raid wardens, children having been evacuated to the country.

It was a noisy experience as the trains continued to rattle through the stations until 1.00 a.m.! After a few weeks I was asked to go further along the line to Bellars Wharf into a spice warehouse, wonderful smells of spice greeted us and it was much quieter. The people were cheerful and friendly. They never knew in the morning if their houses would be there, but the expected raids came much later. I learnt a lot about the seamy side of life but the cheerful Eastenders failed to grumble about their lot and just made the best of it.

I was there during the firebombs and doodlebugs period, an early experience, seeing people who had their hair and eyebrows singed by the sparks falling. I spent a lot of time treating casualties and sending them off to our evacuee hospitals in Coventry, then getting ready for the next intake when the Doodlebugs dropped. We knew they were coming down when the engine noise stopped and we waited to hear where and what had been hit.

On V.E. Day we were as excited as the patients. On our off-duty period a group of us went to Trafalgar Square t hear Churchill declaring the end of the war in Europe. I went with a fellow nurse form the Channel Isles and as Churchill especially mentioned a welcome to our friends in the Channel Isles on being released from German occupation, she stood sobbing with emotion. We went back to work on the wards and when we came off duty went again to London and with the crowd went down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. With the rest of the thousands, we cheered and called for the King and Queen, who came out and waved. We then called for the Princesses not realising that they were standing quite close to us in the crowd!

We stayed so long that the transport had stopped and we had to walk all the way across the park back to the nurse鈥檚 home! It鈥檚 a day I shall never forget, especially hearing Churchill broadcast in Trafalgar Square and his welcome to the Channel Islanders.

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