大象传媒

London wartime recollections by Trudy Overall

1939 After war declared

Waiting in the queue, with Mum and Dad and family, one evening at a local school in Canning Town. Waiting to be fitted with a gas mask and feeling very frightened about the future. Also seeing the parents of babies being shown how to operate the special gas masks for them and feeling so sorry for them. Some of the mothers were in tears.

1940 Summer

Seeing the Battle of Britain being fought over our heads and watching parachutes floating down. The victory rolls of Spitfires and Hurricanes for the planes shot down by them.
Saturday September 15th (afternoon).
Attending the wedding of my friend at St Mary's Parish Church Plaistow. Heard air raid warning during the service. Were being photographed out side the church when the sound of aircraft and anti-aircraft guns started. We very quickly got into the wedding cars and were driven back to where the reception was to be held. A ride I've never forgotten! Bombs were falling and we all went into the shelters. That was the beginning of the Blitz on London. When the all clear sounded the men went to help wherever they could. My fianc茅 Charlie came back very shaken by the sights of the dead and injured he had seen.
He was stationed at North Weald in the RAF when the airfield was bombed by German fighter planes during the Battle of Britain.

1940 November

Walking with workmates along Grange Road, Plaistow, to home in Meredith Street. Typical foggy day, it was our lunch break. Without any siren warning, heard the sound of a Stuka dive-bomber overhead. There was nowhere to shelter so we just flattened ourselves against the nearest brick wall. The bomb, one of the shrapnel bombs, exploded in the air above us. (One of the ways of terrifying us, the ordinary civilians of London, during the Blitz). As the shrapnel hit the ground, flames shot up almost as high as the rooftops. A terrifying sight. After making sure none of us were hurt, we went on our way to lunch and then back to work. 'Carry on London'!

1940-41

Spending night after night in the garden Anderson Shelter. Getting up in the morning to find, when you turned the water tap on, just a trickle of water or no water at all or no gas to boil the kettle. Having to go to work without a cup of tea or a wash, but thanking God that you survived and thinking about the people who didn't.

March 19th 1941

There had been a lull in the air raids for about two weeks. My sister came home from Burford, Oxford, where she was evacuated with her four year old son. She had come to collect some blankets to take back as it was very cold and the people they were billeted with did not have enough.
That evening the siren sounded and a raid started that became so bad we went into the shelter. About 10 pm the guns stopped firing but we could still hear loud explosions. There were six of us in the shelter. We did not know what was happening until we heard a bomb explode as it hit the houses behind us in the next street, Beaufoy Road. The noise of the blast was deafening. We had all laid down on top of each other as it happened and the door of the shelter blew off and landed on my brother's back. He was on leave from the army. I don't know how he survived.
Eight people died in the houses around us. The bombs being dropped that night were parachute land mines, of which 40 were dropped on East Ham. Our house was badly damaged so we were homeless. I remember that for a few days I walked around feeling very shocked and not able to pull myself together. In those terrible days you didn't go to your doctor or hospital unless you were injured, in fact you were told to stay away. My Aunt gave us shelter until we were able to find accommodation.

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