大象传媒

This story was written to the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Coralie, on behalf of Geoffrey Kichenside. The story has been added to the site with his permission and Geoffrey fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

My father was 38 when the war started and was not immediately called up for military service (although he was called up for clerical duties in late 1941 with the RAF). From the outbreak of war until called up, he joined the Civil Defence teams as a firewatcher in the City of London. He worked for Wymans (booksellers and newsagents) at the Head Office in New Street Square, London EC4. His base during Air Raids was on the roof of the building, to give warning of immediate danger, during a raid, to the staff below in the offices. This was done by telephone call to someone who sounded an alarm for staff to get to the basement for shelter. The building was staffed overnight to get newspapers out to mainline stations and local newsagents. There was a sandbag shelter in case he needed it (for example occasionally the German aircraft machine-gunned people on the ground). He was equipped with buckets of water and a stirrup pump, as this was a time when the bombers were dropping incendiary bombs. The two photographs show him in the civil defence and firewatcher鈥檚 outfits.

He was on the roof of Wymans building in the December (29?) 1940 raid which saw so much of the fire and bomb damage. He told me all he could see was fire and smoke all round, but with the dome of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral, lit up by the fires, standing out through and above the smoke. Astonishingly, the Wymans building escaped major damage with just broken windows, but practically every building around New St Square was badly damaged or destroyed. Much later, after the war, the Wymans building was demolished for redevelopment.

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