大象传媒

[Continued from "A Young Boy in Wartime Wiltshire"]

Returning home to London in late 1942/43, there always seemed to be mobile attack batteries running around in the street and blackouts every night. If there was any action, Dennis invariably slept through it though.

One night they saw flares coming down over Chelsea, about a quarter of a mile away, followed by high-explosive bombs. Next morning the boys went to investigate the damage and saw that a block of flats on the Kings Road had been completely demolished. Right opposite was a bottling depot which had also been hit, showering the streets with green glass.

On another occasion, returning home from an afternoon spent at a convent, Dennis heard an explosion nearby. Upon reaching his street he found it cornoned off because this was where the bomb had exploded. Dennis' family were safe but his home had been damaged. This was the only time that Dennis ever felt afraid; afraid that he wouldn't see his mum or dad again. The house windows had been blown out and the interior gutted by the blast. Until safe to occupy again, and even afterwards whenever there was danger of a bombing raid, Dennis and his family slept in a shelter. Suffering from claustrophobia, Dennis dreaded going to bed at night beneath the boards his father placed over them for added protection.

Dennis' school life returned pretty much to normal. He was made a prefect and recalls spending a lot of time collecting dinner money and begging cigarettes from teachers. His mother worked in a Telford pie factory until she became ill and returned home. His father laboured for about 拢2 a week, earning extra money by working in the gasworks engineers gardens in his spare time. He also did some ARP work and was on fire watch most nights.

Dennis saw much of london from the buses that continued to run throughout the bombing. He remembers seeing St.Paul's Cathedral standing virtually untouched amongst acres of flattened buildings. Incendiary bombs had come through the dome and burnt the pulpit and organ. Eventually it was restored bit by bit.

There was still entertainment going on despite the war. although Dennis' choirboy days were over, he had become a server at his local church. The sacristan used to take some of the boys out to the brasserie at Lion's Corner House in Piccadilly. There was rarely anything other than sausage and mash because of the rationing. Once in a while there'd be something special though. There were reasonable bands playing, some in Mexican clothes which the boys thought was "real royal".

One thing that did bring London to a standstill were the pea-souper fogs. They were yellow and you couldn't see your hands in front of your face. They occurred regularly, day or night, mostly in winter. They suddenly came down; buses would stop and flares would be lit on the crossings to guide people. Once the scaristan from Dennis' church took a shortcut across Hyde Park and was only stopped from walking straight into the Serpentine by a policeman.

Leaving school, Dennis went to work for the PO Savings Bank, first at Bligh Road and later Osterley Park. Once when at work the siren went off and all the workers went up to the roof. Above them they sawtheir first flying bomb, a V1 passing overhead. They were assured that they were not in danger as flames were still coming from the back, propelling it along. It was when the flames cut out that the bomb dropped, but apparently they would still glide for two or three miles. Also overhead Dennis used to see the Luftwaffe almost every night, as well as the british fighters going up in response.

On VE Day, massive crowds were in the streets. Street parties lasted from early morning to late at night. Dennis and his wife-to-be went up to Buckingham Palace and waited for the Queen to come out. There they met a Canadian woman who invited them back to her hotel at Marbel Arch. They subsequently began to exchange Christmas cards, but after receiving a wedding gift never heard from her again. Subsequenlly they learned there had been a terrible aeroplane crash in Canada and presume she had been one of the victims.

VJ Day was another cause for celebration. Dennis turned up for work in the war damage department of the local council only to find it closed because Japan had surrendered and a holiday had been declared.

Dennis hasn't been back to London for a number of years, but marvels at the photographs of today's London; the glass city.

(PK)

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