大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by Suzanne Longstone and has been added to the website on behalf of Mr Reginald Groves with his permission and he fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

In September 1939 Reg was aged 11 and attending St John Fisher Secondary School in Purley. He lived with his mother, who worked in a local factory and two older sisters. Their house was roughly on a line between a barrack block and an airfield, and in 1940-41 these were targeted by the Luftwaffe so raids were frequent.

One day the siren went off so Reg, his mum and one sister went into their Anderson shelter in the garden. When he built it his dad hadn鈥檛 put the door in so the entrance was just a large gap. Reg heard a plane hit by anti-aircraft fire. It turned away from the airfield, heading towards the barracks, and started to jettison the bombs it was carrying. One of these fell in the garden next door and exploded. Instantly his mum sat on Reg and his sister to protect them, facing out of the large gap. A piece of flying shrapnel hit her, cutting her forehead which started pouring with blood. She was smoking a cigarette at the time, but that was untouched! The ARP Warden came over quickly, saw what had happened to Reg鈥檚 mum and heaved her out of the shelter. She was put into an old Green Line coach that had been converted into an ambulance and taken off to hospital to get stitched up, while Reg and his sister were left with friends or neighbours. They weren鈥檛 allowed back into their house or garden because of unexploded bombs in the area. All the windows in their house were broken and it was quickly boarded up. They all had to stay with friends until the glass was replaced. Reg鈥檚 mum never trusted the Anderson shelter again! When the sirens went the family went to the shelter in the local school where there were bunk-beds set up and you took along your own blankets and pillow. You had to sit in silence in the shelter - any noise or fuss was punished with a clip around the ear!

Reg and his friends used to enjoy looking for bullets and pieces of shrapnel in their spare time. He later joined the Army Cadets and remembers a trip to Cowes on the Isle of Wight and watching a firework display. Reg got called up in 1947, volunteered for the RAF and served for eight years.

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