大象传媒

Explore the 大象传媒
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

大象传媒 Homepage
大象传媒 History
WW2 People's War Homepage Archive List Timeline About This Site

Contact Us

Turn The Lights Out!

by sarahbateson

You are browsing in:

Archive List > United Kingdom > London

Contributed by听
sarahbateson
People in story:听
Ivy Powell
Location of story:听
London & Lancashire
Background to story:听
Civilian Force
Article ID:听
A4144862
Contributed on:听
02 June 2005

I was an ARP near Hornsey Road. Once there was an air-raid, I would check if people were OK in each block of flats. They made the shelter in the green and told people to turn the lights off at night.

I would have to bring my two children into the shelter as well.

I was out one night and saw a parachute land. I blew my whistle to alert the home guard office. There were incendiary devices attached to the parachute. Everyone was evacuated otherwise the flats would have exploded.

It was very tough because of rationing.

I was in London for most of the war but it got very frightening living in the dark at nights and I put my name down to be evacuated to Lancashire with my children.

When the war finished you could not get in a pub because they were full of people celebrating!

So much of London was destroyed - you never knew who was alive or dead. Every time you heard planes overhead, you'd pick up your belongings and run into the shelter.

My husband got called up for the 8th Army. He was away for approximately four years in Egypt. For sixpence you could get a tiny slip of paper to write messages to loved ones, but they were censored!

Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.

Archive List

This story has been placed in the following categories.

London Category
icon for Story with photoStory with photo

Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the 大象传媒. The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. For any other comments, please Contact Us.



About the 大象传媒 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy