大象传媒

When war was declared in 1939 I was six years old. I lived in Tottenham, North London, and like thousands of other London children I was evacuated.
I was sent away to Chelmsford where I lived for the next two years. I didn't know then what it was like to hear the enemy 'planes coming over and dropping bombs.
After a while things went quiet and there wasn't much bombing, so my mother brought us back home. The school had started up again after being closed during the blitz and normal lessons had resumed.
Then one night the air raid warnings sounded and we heard a loud explosion. When we went out the next morning people were saying that a rocket or pilotless 'plane had landed on a row of houses, demolishing them,and killing the occupants.
This was the first "doodlebug" to fall in our district. After that we used to watch them come over at night. They had a very distinctive drone and a red flame from the tail, they looked very scary.
We had a shelter on some allotments at the back of our house, but as it was damp and chilly we often took a chance and slept in the house.
We had a big, solid, kitchen table and we used to hide under there during air raids listening to the "doodlebugs" flying over.
I was terrified, especially when the engine cut out, as that was a signal they were coming down.
As things were getting quite dangerous I was sent away again. I was evacuated to a hill farm in Carmarthen, South Wales, where I stayed until the air raids over London finished.

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