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Whilst I was staying with my grandparents following damage to our house in Norwich, I was on the Common one afternoon with my pals when we saw two English planes collide. The pilots escaped but one of the parachutes did not open and the pilot Roman Candled to the ground. We saw him bounce above the hedges but were too far away to see anything further. The local ambulance recovered his body but when the M.P.s returned to collect the parachute, it had disappeared. However, it was noticeable soon after that several ladies who lived along the canal near where the pilot had landed were wearing rather attractive white silk blouses.
Near to St. John’s was Brookwood Hospital to which many injured service men were sent to recover. They all wore bright blue uniforms, which of course attracted our attention. Since most of these men were extremely badly maimed, I often wondered why they were forced to wear this obvious colour thereby drawing attention to them when I suspect that that was the last thing they wanted.
One day Grandma and I travelled to London to visit some friends who lived in Ealing. Whilst we were there, there was an air raid and we all took refuge in the Underground Station. We stayed there all night, which was far from comfortable, although many people there had obviously been before, since they came equipped with blanket rolls and flasks of tea.

‘This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Jim Ellis civilian and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.’

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