大象传媒

Close Encounter.
Gwyneth Shoesmith, nee Burgess. 1925-2005.

This story was submitted to the Peoples War website by a volunteer from Hastings Library on behalf of Gwyneth by her daughter.

My mother, Gwyneth was 14 years old when war was declared. In 1940 she left school and worked as a delivery girl for her father鈥檚 business, 鈥楤urgess the Butchers鈥�, of 21 Sedlescombe Road North, St Leonards on Sea, Sussex.

In September of that year Gwyneth was making a delivery on her bicycle near the Ridge when she heard an aircraft flying extremely low. It was a Messerschmitt 110 with two crew men who she could see clearly, with a spitfire in hot pursuit. She realised that the aircraft did not have enough height to clear this high piece of land, even though she could see the German pilot struggling with the controls. She knew it was going to crash so she hid behind the gate post of the house she was about to deliver to. The inevitable happened and she was shaking and her legs buckled beneath her. The lady of the house took her in and made her a cup of tea, which she remembered was sweetened with 鈥榗ondensed milk鈥�.

When Gwyneth was sufficiently recovered she carried on with her round and passed the scene of the crash. The firemen were in attendance and were dressed in silver suits. She saw one of the bodies of the crew being taken out of the burnt out plane. She then returned to her father鈥檚 shop.

Mnay years later I accompanied my mother to Hastings Cemetery where we visited the graves of the 2 Germans who were killed in 1940. They were EBERHARD WEYERGANG & GUSTAV NELSON; they died on 25 September. My mother鈥檚 only comment on seeing the headstones was:-鈥淚 was the last person they saw before they crashed on that day鈥�.

My mother had two other 鈥榗lose shaves鈥� during the War. One evening a lone German plane flew over the Silverhill area of St Leonards firing along the street. She stood outside her father鈥檚 premises in Selescombe Road North and was 鈥榯ransfixed鈥� by the sight and sound of the bullets and tracers hitting the ground. When she told her brother the next day he said she was a fool, as any one of theses pieces of ammunition could have ricocheted and killed her!

Later on in the War my mother was walking along the seafront in Hastings, towards the 鈥極ld Town鈥�. She reached the Cinema De Luxe building when she heard a flying bomb coming. She looked out to sea and on a direct line with her at low altitude she could see the doodlebug. She quickly looked up at the building and the cliff behind and it was obvious to her that it would not clear the building. Her time was up! So she threw herself into the gutter for what little shelter that would afford. At that moment the engine on the flying bomb cut out and it dropped into the sea, just at the waters edge. Pebbles and debris were thrown into the air, but my mother just got up, counted herself lucky again and went on her way!

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