大象传媒

My name is Molly Vaux (nee Wedgebury,) and I was born on May 9th 1941 in South East London. I lived with my parents, Rose and Alfred Wedgbury, and my older brother, David, near Borstal Heath. I have a few early memories of the war, which include the sounds of air raid sirens and the 鈥楤ig Guns鈥� which were situated on Borstal Heath, not far from Woolwich Arsenal. They made a very distinctive noise that we could hear inside our house.

The earliest memory I have is of being thrown into the air raid shelter at the end of the garden. I think my mother caught me, but I can remember there being a lot of noise outside, and being held.

I can also remember the Iron Table that we had to shelter under indoors - I think it was a Morrison Shelter with old mattresses under it. (I think this was later on during the war.) One day my brother David and I were sheltering in it while there was something going on in the sky. I鈥檓 not sure, why but I wanted my mum, so I left David and went looking for her. I found her upstairs in the bath. She said 鈥済o downstairs you naughty girl鈥�. I remember thinking 鈥測ou鈥檙e the naughty girl!鈥�

Another day I went with my mother and my nan, Mabel Mott, up to the school to collect my brother. The siren went so we ran down to the school shelter where the school children were sitting on long benches - they were all sitting very still and quiet. A bomb fell right in front of our house, leaving a large hole in the road. We were told to move into the back of the house, which we did. The bomb was defused, but for years afterwards you could see where the hole had been filled in, and the road had been repaired.

My father, Alfred Wedgebury, was in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and ended up in hospital at Tunbridge Wells with diesel poisoning. I went with Mum and Nan to visit him. I am not sure if we went by train or bus, but I do remember walking across fields to reach the hospital. Dad was in a ward with other soldiers and the place was alive with mice. Dad opened a draw and pretended to kill some with his shoe. He then sat me on a chair and said I was to keep watch.

I don鈥檛 remember being told that the war had ended. However, I first became aware that it had ended on May 9th 1945 which was my fourth birthday. I opened the front door and waited for the postman to come with my birthday cards. Mum said that he wouldn鈥檛 be coming as the war had ended and it was a public holiday.

I think the most haunting memory is of a neighbour who was always leaning on the gate looking up and down the street, this was after the war. One day I asked Mum why she was always there. She told me that he son had been in the Navy and she was waiting for him to return. He never did.

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