大象传媒

In 1940 my parents and my sister and myself were living in Maidstone, but my Father was called up as a skilled engineer to work at Short Bros in Rochester. He had rented a house in Chatham,so we moved all the furniture to the new house. We could not move in that night because it was too late when we arrived, so we stayed at a guest house. That night bombs were dropped on Chatham, and when we arrived at the new house, we found it had been completely demolished. A quick visit to Gillingham and Dad found another property, and we moved in.I was just 8 and the war seemed to be exciting, bombers flew overhead, there were innumerable dog fights. Vapour trails were everywhere in the sky, The heavy gun at the top of the road
fired shells at the bombers. I used to climb the tree at the bottom of the garden to get a good view, much to my Mother's constanation.

Nighttime was not so good and for over a year we all slept in a underground shelter that had been built in next doors garden. Thing seem to calm down for a while so we moved back indoors where we had a Morrison shelter. My aunt Dot who lived in Margate came to stay for a few days. One night there was a big raid and we got up to go to the shelter, my Mother looked out of the rear bedroom window and screamed "A bomb has just gone past", at the same time Dot who was looking out of the front bedroom shouted "there goes another one". There was a hugh bang as these bombs destroyed several house just down the road.Next morning I with other friend were searching for bits of schrapnel, but my parents had had enough, and we moved to Sonning Common in Oxon.

In the summer of 1942 we had moved to Caversham, as my Father had been drafted to Miles Aircraft at Woodley. After leaving school one Wednesday, I was cycling to my maths tutor when a Dornier flew low overhead, fired shells at my school, and then machined gunned the road I was cycling, I threw myself to the ground, as the bullets ripped up the tarmac. The bomber flew on down into Reading and bombed the town centre. I brushed myself down checked that the bike was OK and carried on to my tutor. I reckon I must have been born lucky.

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