大象传媒

This is Don Robert's story; it has been added by a Volunteer from Crawley 19th Sqdn ATC, with permission from the author, who understands the terms and conditions of adding his story to the website.

On the second of September 1939, my sister and I boarded a train at Stratford and travelled to Colchester where we then got on a coach which took us to Bradfield. From the school hall we were taken in by a Mister and Misses Offord and we lived with them until May 1940.

Following Dunkirk it was decided it was unsafe to live so close to the east coast and rather than be moved to another part of the country, we returned to Stratford and parents home. During the Blitz we slept each night in an Anderson Shelter but by October, matters had become so bad we - my mother and my younger brother - spent three weeks with a family who we did not know near Newbury.

The following month the whole family moved into a cottage in Wormley, Hartfordshire and although this was less than 20 miles from central London, it was safer than Stratford. While we were away, our house in Stratford was bombed. At the local church school, I missed the opportunity to take the 11+ exam but fortunately I was able to
Take a 12+ examination in 1942 and for four years attended Plaistow grammar school.

In November 1941 we moved to another house near West Ham park a mile or so from the house that was bombed. My mother remained there for another 24 years and it is where I spent 16 years of my life.

I remember the VE Day street party we held to celebrate the end of the war by which time I was a Boy Scout.

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