大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Ken on behalf of Brian and Jean
Shepherd and has been added to the site with their permission. Brian and Jean
Shepherd fully understand the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

At the time of the events in Brian鈥檚 story he was about 8 years old and lived in
Portsmouth.

鈥淥ur family had a kind of weekend retreat, or chalet, at Horndean. I remember once
while there, there was a raid by German planes, although the siren had not been
sounded. I am not certain what the target was but the sounds of the raid were quite
close. My aunt and uncle had a similar small chalet nearby and came to our house to
suggest our family join them, to wait out the raid together. After some doubts and
talking the matter over, and after a conversation with our next door neighbours, we did
go with our relations.

鈥淭he air attack continued, with all the noise of anti-aircraft guns and bombs, until there
was a most tremendous explosion. This turned out to have been a landmine which
completely destroyed the house of our neighbour, with whom we had been speaking
earlier, killing their family of six people. Our chalet was heavily damaged and I clearly
remember great clods of clay and earth thrown about, burying our belongings.鈥�

The decision to join their relations during the raid had obviously saved the Shepherd
family from death or injury. Perhaps more remarkable was the fact that the parachute
of the mine had failed to open properly. Remains of it were found in the wreckage in
the huge crater. Had it not failed, the designed surface blast effect of the weapon
would have created far wider destruction, including the building where the Shepherd
family sheltered.

Portsmouth, of course, was a target for raiding aircraft but an event Brian remembers
was when no raid was on, but a plane, perhaps returning from a raid elsewhere, started
to unload its bombs as it headed home.

鈥淢y mother grabbed me from bed and tried to do the same to my older brother, to
rush us to the Anderson shelter in the garden. But she couldn鈥檛 wake him, which made
her quite distraught, trying to decide whether she should continue to shake him or to
get me to shelter and save at least one of us!鈥�

In the event the bomber went on its way, solving Mrs Shepherd鈥檚 dilemma. Brian also
has vivid recollections of the V1, or Buzz-Bomb attacks; the awful racket of their
engines and the fearful silence when the engine cut out. To be followed by the
explosion of the bomb.

鈥淭here was once when one of these Doodlebugs had obviously been hit and damaged
and was staggering across the sky. My mother was rushing me to the shelter, but as we
came out of the back door of the house she stopped, as she thought it was about to fall
into the garden. Which luckily it didn鈥檛. But by her stopping like that I could see the
black shape of the V1, and the rocket flames roaring from its tail. It did drop quite
close and my father, he was a fireman and on duty at the time, saw it fall and, fearing it
had hit us, rushed home. He was very relieved to find we were safe.鈥�

Jean Shepherd was five years old at the time of the fall of France, and the threat of
invasion to the Channel Islands became imminent. She was the eldest of three children,
the youngest being a matter of a few weeks old. The family were not born islanders but
had arrived in Jersey with their father when he started working there as a painter and
decorator, on a contract he had won and which was expected to last for a year or so.

She remembers the anxiety of the emergency evacuation ahead and what to do about
their house and furniture. They just managed to get on to one of the last boats to leave
the Island, ahead of the arrival of the invading German army. She recalls being allowed
with other children to sleep in the captain鈥檚 cabin. She also remembers looking out of a
porthole and been roughly told to put her head back in, by a man looking out of a
porthole in an adjoining boat.

Their house was used by friends who remained in Jersey and took care of their
belongings, which they were able to recover at the end of the war.

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