大象传媒

This story was submitted by a volunteer. The contributor (Mary Collins) agreed to the sites terms and conditions.

1944 we lived in Catford and often we were woken at night and got into our siren suits - like the ones that Winston Churchill wore. We used to watch he Buzz Bombs go over - they were coming from Dover - we could see them flying over in the distance.
They were little black things smaller than an aeroplane and they went in a dead straight line. You were perfectly safe while they were in the sky, but as soon as the noise stopped they came down at an angle. As kids it didn't worry us - the two geese we had started cackling on top of the air raid shelter when the buzz bombs came. Sometimes the air siren went off but sometimes people didn't see the bombs.
When they exploded they made enormous craters which filled with water and we would play in the craters without our parents knowing.
Mum was worried about the bombs and August 13th - her birthday, she agreed to be evacuated. Dad was a Lighterman and Waterman so he stayed behind. The five of us - mum and four children - got on a train from Hither Green and we ended up in Altringham in Cheshire. We were too large a family to be taken in so we were last in the hall - we had to sleep in the hall and my mum cried because she didn't know what was going on. We had the nursery floor in the large house of a local MP. They had domestic help and mum was asked to lend a hand for a big dinner - and Winston Churchill turned up.
The starter was pigeon with thin toast - coming from London we were horrified by the pigeon. We were all introduced to Winston as the 'little evacuees' - I was 9, my sister was 7 and my younger brother 5.
Mum missed dad so we came home to Catford. The first night we were home, we went to sleep and woke up to the second half of an explosion. This was the V2 - a more violent version of the Buzz bombs. I don't know where this bomb dropped or the damage the media may have put a D notice on it because of lowering morale.

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