大象传媒

One of the most difficult memory of the war for me to recall happened during the time of the 'Doodlebugs' and VI Rockets. That was a time of fear. Hearing the sound of the bombs approaching, on their way to London was particularly daunting. We used to say' don't stop now, keep going'because we knew we would not have one landing on our house.
Returning to the suburbs of London after an extended stay in the country at the beginning of the war, saw me having to attend school in the home of the principal.
Just a small bungalow, but being a private school, the pupils number only a handful.
The lounge was a through one, so two seperate tables were set out at each end.
It was the time of the Doodlebugs or VI rockets, I'm not sure exactly as time has dimmed my memory of the actual yr. One night following a loud bang and darkness, Dad rushed out to do his Air Raid warden duty, subsequently returning to say that 12 bungalows had been obliterated in the next street with fatalities. The following day at school, one child was not at the table.
No such thing as Chapels of Rest in those days.
The parents of the child requested that she be brought to the school bungalow, which the Principal allowed. I'll never forget the trauma of walking into that lounge to see a small coffin draped with a Union Jack flag. My friend and playmate... Myrtle!. Her home was one of the obliterated 12 bungalows. Parents had been rescued, but it was all too much for a little girl to bear. She was brought out from the rubble dead. My father knew as he was on the scene, but he couldn't prepare me for the subsequent seeing of the coffin in the schoolroom. After the tradegy that street with its large crater became a no through rd until the end of the war when it was repaired. I used to cut through the 10ft alleyway which ran behind the bungalows to emerge into the main rd en route to the shops.Nature took over with wild flowers appearing where once lived families.

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