大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by CVS/大象传媒 Radio Nottingham on behalf of Violet Armstead with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I lived on the outskirts of London in Kent and travelled to London every day to work there as a secretary. I was eighteen when the war started. I worked at Romney House in a big office. On one side was the Board of Trade and on the other was part of the War Office.
I worked in the War Damage Section. When homes got bombed they got compensation for it. I typed what I was given to do. I would have liked to be in the Land Army, but I needed to work for the money and I was loyal to my family. My sister worked at Cross & Blackwells.
One girl at work told us that near their house was a large insurance office. The basement was used as an air raid shelter. One night a bomb landed on the lift shaft and went right down into the basement, killing all who took shelter there, including her own mother. It was a shocking story to hear.
I remember the horrible drone of German bomber planes. It was not an even drone like that of the British planes.
The most frightening were the Doodle-Bugs. You heard the engine, then it stopped and glided silently to its target.They were fiendish things. You could see the flames coming from the back. If you saw people looking up, you knew that there was a Doddle-Bug somewhere around.
I wasn't so afraid of the V2 rockets. These were silent. You couldn't hear them at all until they exploded. They were completely pilotless and came right into London. One went off nearby when we had a party at Christmas-time. It made the blackout curtains fly up to the ceiling. We carried on with the party. It was the only way to get through the war.
I went to London after the great fire in 1941. There were hoses everywhere and wet roads. Many brave firemen were lost.
One day I saw a lone low-flying bomber near our house. I could see the markings on the plane. The plane machine gunned all the washing that was hanging in the gardens. It then went over a school in Catford. The pilot must have seen the children playing in the playground. Despite this he bombed the school. I had to pass the school as I wanted to see if my friend's children were OK. Fortunately they were off ill that day. The school was a sickening, horrendous sight. The searchlights remained on it at night as they were still looking for survivors. I learnt that the German aircraft was later brought down.
One night my sister, Rene, and I were really scared. We were seated in the Odeon Cinema at Bromley watching 'Strawberry Blonde' one Sunday evening. At the side of the screen the light flashed to tell us of an air raid. Soon we heard the deafening sound of Ack-Ack guns and thought we should leave the cinema. We had three miles to walk home and walked on everytime there was a lull in the gunfire. When red hot shrapnel came pinging down onto the road, we took shelter in doorways or porches. No-one seemed to mind. I think they were all in their gardens in their shelters anyway. There was glass everywhere. It was very frightening.
I saw the Battle of Britain. I was at home on a hot, sunny day. The sky was clear. (I always felt safer on foggy days.) I could see many German planes. The Spitfires and Hurricanes couldn't be seen as they came in from the sun. They looked like fireflies. I could hear machine guns. I could see the Spitfires darting in and out. Everyone on the ground was cheering them on.
I went to work by train. The journey was interupted if there were incendiaries on the line. We would walk to the next station or go by bus. One day I saw a man in a pin-striped suit with a rolled umbrella sitting upright on the back of a flat based coal lorry. It was very funny to see him, but I'm sure he was grateful for the lift.
Despite all the bombing, no-one was despondent even after rough nights. Nobody believed that we would be invaded. Churchill was a great inspiration to us.
When we left the office in the evening, we would say,'Hope you have a quiet night,' rather than, 'Hope you survive the night.'
We had to be casual, otherwise it would have been too overdramatic.

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