大象传媒

I was born in July 1940 during the Battle of Britain and my mother, Mrs Mina Hutson, was living in a small detached house in Western Road in the village of Hawkhurst, Kent.

Situated opposite my mother's house was a Victorian C of E Primary School built in the 1890's which was recently demolished to make way for housing.

In broad daylight and on its way back from a bombing raid in London, my mother, now 89 years old, who was in her bedroom, looked out of the window and could see a Messerschmitt being chased by a Spitfire. She could actually see the German pilot in the cockpit. She rushed downstairs. Meantime, the Spitfire pilot had managed to tip the wing of the Messerschmitt, forcing it away from the school. As soon as the siren had sounded the children, who were playing in the playground, immediately ran into the air raid shelter.

Meantime, the German pilot dropped his bomb on a house at the end of School Terrace. The bomb landed in an armchair and did not explode. Fortunately, Mr Piper, the owner of the property, was at work in his paper shop underneath the colonnade in the centre of the village and no one else was at home at the time. When the bomb was being made safe and removed, everyone living within the area was evacuated to White's Lane, situated the other side of the village, for an hour or two. It was several years before the house was restored to its former glory.

On another occasion, a bomb was dropped in a hollow at the bottom of Station Road within the vicinity of a tall, gaunt house owned by Mr Todd. All the windows were blown out and no one was hurt. Mr Todd owned an abattoir in Ockley Lane and provided horse meat for the cats and dogs of the village from a small shop in Station Road.

Mrs May Smith, our next door neighbour, had been jam making the previous day and was very cross when her jars of jam neatly stored away in her larder dropped to the floor and smashed into smithereens as a result of the explosion.

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