大象传媒

I shall always remember my 5th birthday,the first birthday that I had during the war as it falls on September 14th.I was promised by my Dad that for my treat I could go on his bus for the day.Because of my Dads shift patterns I got my treat a week early and we left on 7th September 1940 along with my Dads conductor Charlie.We left from Upton Park bus garage on a number 15 bus towards London heading out to Plashet Grove.I sat on my favourite seat at the front on the top deck thus able to watch all the wonderful sights as we passed through London.There were no tourists in them days as anyone who wasnt a Londoner was considered a spy.The day passed quickly for me and we were finally heading back towards Upton Park.When the warning went we were heading towards the city and in the distance we could hear what sounded like gun fire and very loud thuds,passengers on the bus left slowly as we reached each bus stop and they would head for the nearest shelter.The bangs were getting louder as we approached Aldgate and as we passed into Commercial Road we could now see a red glow in the sky and it was getting bigger and brighter.We did not know at the time but we were heading into the bombing of London Docks,this was in fact the first time that the Luftwaffe had switched from bombing the R.A.F airfields to concentrate on London.As we progressed along Commercial Road the red glow slowly became flames and the smoke and smell of burning was very strange.When buildings are destroyed by bombs you get the smell of years of dust being more noticeable that the smell that you get from a rubbish fire.We eventually were stopped by a policeman who told Dad and Charlie that the road ahead was closed and impassable as there was an unexploded bomb and that many buildings were hit and on fire,debris was everywhere.After some thought the three of them came to the conclusion that things were now so dangerous all the remaining passengers must leave the bus and go to the nearest shelter.Dad and Charley would attempt to get the bus back to the garage so with me on board we turned off Commercial Road and went down some side roads to end up at Mile End.This was familiar territory to Dad and on we went pass Bow and towards Stratford,it seemed that everywhere we went there was fire and destruction.Debris seemed to cover all of the East End.We were stopped again by another policeman who told us that some buildings had been bombed in Romford Road,I can still recall that it seemed that everywhere was in a state of chaos yet here we were somehow being guided and protected until we could reach safety.So now it seemed that we would have to head for Charleys home which was on the edge of Wanstead Flats.So here is where my birthday treat had ended,down a shelter with Charleys wife and children.Dad and Charley decided to go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea.A short time later they brought a tray of tea to us all and Charley asked his wife if there had been any loud bangs while she had been down the shelter,she did say she thought that a bomb had gone off close by as there was a bang followed by some dirt and dust falling in the shelter.It turned out that what had in fact happened was a bomb had fallen over the back of their house,demolishing three houses and the blast had taken the roof from their house and some upstairs floor.In fact quite a few houses were damaged many worse than Charleys.The next morning it was easy to see the damage and people were cleaning up as best as possible and would live their lives down the shelter until some repairs could be done to the less damaged houses.Others had to be evacuated or in very few cases rehoused. We had more tea and toast and decided we would try and get the bus back to the garage so with a thank you and goodbye we left to explore the way to Upton Park.We did eventually get to the garage and the managers treated my Dad and Charley as heroes,everyone thought that the bus had been destroyed.When we got home I can still see my mothers face shed never been so glad to see us.It wasnt until after the war that I took another ride on a bus but it was never as exciting as the birthday treat.Even now some sixty years later the smell of dust sometimes found in a loft area where it has accumilatd for many years reminds me of the smell when houses had been damaged by bombs.I can also still recall the smell of death and the thing that always reminds me is the smell of the shell covering on walnuts a very strange smell indeed.

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