大象传媒

When I came back to Chiswick in 1944 the plane bombings had stopped but then the V1s arrived. As they came over they made a horrid pulsing noise. If this noise continued and went away in the distance then we were safe but if the engine cut out nearby then you had about 15 seconds before the missile came crashing down.

One night, a V1, we called them Doodlebugs or Buzz Bombs, landed on the United Dairies stable yard in Sutton Lane. In those days, milk was delivered to your door by horse-drawn carts and when I went out the following morning, I couldn鈥檛 work out what was wrong with the trees. All the branches seemed to be deformed. It took me a while to realise that they were legs from the horses that had been blown up. So sad.

I used to cycle up the Great West Road to get to work. It was a lovely wide road with grass verges either side. One morning I heard the drone of a Buzz Bomb and looked up to see the thing, with flames coming out of its tail, following me up the road. The chap cycling next to me threw himself into a ditch but I carried on, pedalling like a lunatic. Suddenly it turned right, the engine stopped and it came down the other side of the road. I was uninjured but others weren鈥檛 so lucky. I worked with a nice man called Bill Christmas. The sirens went off whilst he was having breakfast, so he sent his wife and children off to the shelter, said he would finish his meal and then head off to work. When the family came back they found him still sitting at the table holding his knife and fork. The blast had killed him where he sat.

I remember being at a friend鈥檚 house when her mother and aunt announced they were going out. Both of them put on tin hats in case a bomb fell on them and it reduced us both to fits of hysterical laughter. Whilst they were gone there was a really nasty raid and after the all clear went the ladies came back shaking with fright. One of them had a huge dent in her tin hat where a piece of shrapnel had hit it. They both sat down and polished off half a bottle of gin to make them feel better and Velma and I never laughed at their hats again.

Kath was a friend and colleague who lived in Twickenham. Her parents were going to Scotland for two weeks and so she asked if I would stay with her. We slept in a Morrison shelter in the lounge with alarm clocks hanging on the wires at the sides. Her sister, who worked for the Civil Service and had been sent to Llandudno for the duration, offered to have us stay for a 2 week holiday. As soon as Kath鈥檚 parents returned, we caught the local train to Waterloo from where we would transfer to Paddington. The train was very crowded but we managed to squeeze into the last carriage. Arriving at Waterloo, everyone piled out onto the platform just in time to hear the dreaded drone of a buzz bomb. The station master shouted 鈥渆veryone down鈥�, we all dropped like a pack of cards and then the engine cut out. The bomb fell by the station entrance and all the glass from the roof and dirt from years, exploded and fell on us.

When we were finally told to move, we looked a real sight. We were filthy dirty and had glass in our hair but in the main hall, there were people sitting on the ground with blood running down their faces. We had to stand all the way from Paddington to Llandudno and when we arrived, we looked a right pair of tramps but the people were really nice to us. It was two weeks of peace; no sirens or war, just peace.

On our return the buzz bombs had stopped, but at the start of September the V2s started and they were worse because you didn鈥檛 hear them coming. The first one fell on a very old oak tree at the entrance to Chiswick House in Stavely Road. Very soon after that, the bombings stopped completely.

Go to Hazel's War - Part 1 Evacuation.

Go to Hazel's War - Part 3 The War Effort.

Go to Hazel's War - Part 4 Dances, Spivs and one legged tights.

Go to Hazel's War - Part 5 Great Uncle Charlie.

Go to Hazel's War - Part 6 The Human Cost.

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