- Contributed by听
- Shy_Berry
- People in story:听
- Shirley Berry
- Location of story:听
- London.S.E.20.
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4363463
- Contributed on:听
- 05 July 2005
I think my worst WW2 experince was while I was a pupil at. St.Johns Church Junior School. Penge.S.E.20. I do not remember the date but I am sure it could be verified. On a Friday I always went home to my Grandma's for lunch, I had already put my coat on to leave when the siren went ( I know I should have gone back to the shelter! ) but I carried on as I always loved my Gran's food ! her home was about a quarter of a mile away.I started to run when I heard gunfire which got louder and louder, one of my classmates who lived in the same Road as my Gran,Lucus Road, Penge, was ahead of me, we had both just got to the top of this road when a man shouted at us to lay down by the side of a house wall, we had just done this when I looked up and saw a German aircraft with a Swastika on the side and could see the pilot clearly as he was flying so low and he was machine gunning everything in his sight as he flew !! bits of the wall fell on to us, as the bullets hit it above us. It was soon over and we were O.K. but very frightened, then the man told us to run home fast.
I later heard from my parents that there were 2 planes which had got underneath the radar and knew they were trapped, so just dropped all their bombs. One of which was a land mine that hit a school in Catford.S.E.London and killed hundreds of children,also a lady was killed in a block of flats at Anerley S.E.20 while she was standing at her kitchen sink looking out. Thankfully the RAF from Biggin Hill had them cornered and brought them down over the sewage works at Elmer's End away from the housing. We had many frightening days and nights spent in the dugouts, but I think
that was the worse time for me being out in the open. At least in the shelter my mother was with us, which was comforting as she kept us busy singing or playing games to take our minds off of what was going on above us.
I am so glad my family have not had to go through anything like this and hopefully never will.
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