´óÏó´«Ã½

These stories were submitted to the People War’s site by Jane Van de Ban of CSV Media on behalf of Peter John Caplin and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Safe on the ladder

Originally I come from Welling in Kent. One of the first memories I remember, we lived in Camia Road. Camia Road ran one way, and there were five other roads, all of which ran the other way from ours. During the war, each street running perpendicular to us got a bomb, but they missed our street.

Like a battlefield

I remember going to Wickham Lane during the War. As you went down the Lane, there was a huge cemetery, which had steps going down. It was a really big cemetery. Well, one day, a landmine hit it. And I walked by, and I can remember seeing all these skeletons and coffins lying all over the place, because the landmine blew up the whole cemetery.

Suicide by drowning

In Welling Corner, outside the Library, they used to have a huge water tank (in case of emergency). During the war, a lady in her 20s drowned herself and her two children in that tank.

Watching the doodlebugs

My two brothers and I used to go to a place called Abbey Wood. We’d sit there and watch the doodlebugs go over. The sound was terrible. You’d hear them and they’d make this really horrible droning noise, just until the sound cut out. And then there’d be a loud hissing noise.

Keeping the family fed

My old lady was a real Eastender. And during the war, she got a job in a café in Welling. Her name was Rose, so everyone called it Rose’s Café — even though it wasn’t her café.

Anyway, I used to clean the café, and while I was doing that, she’d be going through the cupboards nicking all the fruit and everything. It was hard to get any of this for us otherwise.

One Sunday, a policeman came in and asked what she was doing. So she told him, and gave him some of what she was nicking out of the cupboard. And he went away, very happy! She never got caught.

Again, when they used to get the fish in, if she fancied it, she’d put her thumb in in at break it up, so that we could have some. So there we were eating fish and chips!

Surviving in a hedge

On a Saturday afternoon, it was about 1944, during the Battle of Britain, the old lady was going up to pay the rent in Bexleyheath. Between Bexleyheath Clocktower and Welling corner, she was pushing my sister, who was only two years old and me (I was about 7) and my other brother, and a Messerschmidt came down Bexleyheath Broadway and machine-gunned the whole road. And I remember, my old lady threw us into a hedge, so we were okay. But a lot of other people died.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.