大象传媒

I was 5 years 6 months old when my Father my Mother and myself moved from Sreatham. London to Chorleywood. My mother had been a telephonist, so we were allocated a flat above the telephone exchange. I went to a private school. I remember a large group of young children arriving in the village. They were taken to the Common, where they stood in a group and several adults picked up the children and took them away. The children wore gas masks and labels like little parcels.My father would keep me informed of important events of the War. I remember him coming into my bedroom saying "they have sunk the Bismark"all excited. Also he told me they had bombed London and St Pauls which had been where I lived. He took me on the train to St Pauls (Baker Street) the train window had tape on them. We walked through bombed London streets to the City and I saw St Pauls Cathedral standing proud of the ruins with smoke drifting upwards. There was a strong smell of burning,I was 8 years old.Later in the War I was staying with my Grandmother in Watford. We were walking back from an outing in the evening when we heard the drone of the flying bomb.We were outside the Sun Engraving Printers as the bomb was almost overhead. We were by some steps as the bomb went over. My Grandmother grabbed me and threw me on the steps and laid over the top of me, to protect me,the bomb went over and we heard it explode in the distance.I worried who had been killed, however we were safe.

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