大象传媒

I was living at home in Ireland throughout the war, which in that country was always referred to as 鈥淭he Emergency鈥�. In November 1944 I answered an ad in the New Statesman for a research assistant at the Fabian Society in London (then, as now a 鈥淭hink Tank鈥� for the Labour Party). Presumably due to the war there was a shortage of suitable young graduates in England.

I arrived in February 1945 and rented a bedsit in Leinster Gardens, Bayswater for 27/6 a week. I adjusted quite quickly to wartime conditions, enjoyed the work, made friends. The war was petering out thought there were still some flying bombs and rockets about.
About six weeks after I arrived on a Saturday morning about 8 am there was an almighty bang and the door of my room (which very fortunately for me was at the back of the house) flew off its hinges and struck me a light blow on the head leaving me a little dazed. A free Pole in uniform (there were several Poles lodging in the house) came in rather unsteadily and asked if I had an aspirin. I did but the water was already cut off. Then some rescue people arrived and helped me pack and I managed tog et a taxi to some friends who lived near Fleet Street. I believed several people were injured as the front of the house was blown in. It was unfortunate to be bombed out so soon after arriving but lucky to get off lightly!

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Rosie Stanford and has been added to the site with his permission. Rosie Stanford fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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