大象传媒

GRETA鈥橲 WAR

When war was declared I was with my Mum, Dad and younger sister visiting relatives in St Albans. The very next day I saw lots of children being evacuated. I attended Barr鈥檚 Hill Grammar School (the old school, which was a huge house converted into a school) and from some of the classrooms we could see the barrage balloons in the Memorial Park. When the sirens went we all trooped down to the cellars.

The raids in the evenings became more frequent together with the whistling bombs. I lived in Charter Avenue, Canley and it was assumed that the bombs were aimed at the railway line and the Standard factory. Then came the big one, November 14th 1940. The raid started as normal. I did my homework. Dad stood on the street with some of the neighbours (all with their buckets of sand in case any incendiaries fell). It soon became obvious that this was no ordinary raid. The bombs were all concentrated on the city centre. I joined my Dad outside and the sight was amazing. The whole of the city centre was ablaze and the sky was lit up with explosions and fires. The planes were clearly visible. There was nothing to stop them. At one point we did see two parachute bombs come down. One landed in the woods further up Charter Avenue and one landed lower down Charter Avenue.

I walked to school the next day. There was no transport. As I was walking down Hearsall Lane two lorries covered with tarpaulins rushed up Hearsall Lane. They were full of bodies but I have no idea where they going. The destruction in town was unbelievable and I eventually arrived at school, parts of which were badly damaged. We were all sent home and eventually we were evacuated to Atherstone. Fortunately my Auntie and Uncle were farming at Baddesley Ensor, near to Atherstone, so I went to stay with them.

One night, for some reason, the Germans dropped a lot of bombs in that area and several people in Grendon were killed. It was during this raid that I thought I had better go and see how my grandparents were. They lived in the farm cottage, about 150 yards away. Just as I stepped outside there was a terrific bang and I dashed back inside. Afterwards, it appeared, a plane had been hit and exploded. Three German airmen were picked up locally and for several days afterwards the farm was inundated with men from the M.O.D picking up bits of plane.

In 1943 I passed my school certificate and decided not to stay on and do my higher. Sadly my Dad had passed away and I felt it was time I helped my Mum. I came back to Coventry and started work in the laboratories at Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. I cannot remember exactly when but at sometime I and a colleague had to go with our boss, Dr Wright, to Baginton Fields Hostel. At that time it was full of Norwegian seamen. I had no idea why they were there but we all went to take blood samples from them all and bring the samples back to the laboratory for testing. I have no idea what the results were. Eventually the end of the war in Europe came. There were tables erected on Charter Avenue and there were parties all along there. I spent the evening at Neal鈥檚 ballroom in Earlsdon dancing the night away.

Then came the end of the war in Japan. I was in Deal, Kent visiting friends with my Mum and younger sister. There were bonfires all along the beach and everyone was dancing along the sea-front. Wonderful feeling.

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