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It was the 20th January 1943. We had gone to school lunch for the first time; we had always gone home before. We were sitting down to lunch. My brother’s table was next to the window.
All of a sudden we heard the noise of an aeroplane. We saw the pilot — he had come down low. He waved at us and we all waved back. Then we saw the German black cross at the side of the plane.
He came back, circled up and dropped the bomb which eventually killed 38 children and teachers. He was machine gunning anything and anybody.
In Catford there was a stall which sold horsemeat. The airman machine gunned the entire queue in front of the stall including a young girl with a baby.
Three little girls at my table were all killed. I called my brother, he turned around and that’s when bomb went off.
I was dug out later the same day. My brother wasn’t found for three days. This was one of very few nights of the war when the lights were allowed to stay on in order to look for children. One policeman that was digging found his own little girl of six years.
I went to three hospitals for plastic surgery, one being Queen Victoria, East Grinstead where the surgery was conducted by Ian Macindoe.
Several months later I was back home, listening to the radio to a translation of a speech the pilot had given — he said he was glad he had done what he had done and he would do it again for his fatherland.

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This story was added to the People's War Website by Mary Burch with help from Stefana Bosse of London CSV. The author is aware of the site's Terms and Conditions.

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