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This story was submitted to the People’s War site at Surrey History Centre on behalf of Mr Richard E. Moore. It has been added to the site with the author’s permission, and he fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I cannot remember the date, but it must have been in 1940 or 1941, a Wednesday afternoon and the first full day of the school holidays- I had returned home only the day before. Soon after lunch we heard the throbbing drone of a low-flying German aircraft, followed shortly afterwards by the unmistakable crump crump of two or three bombs exploding. We lived over my father’s business, the village pharmacy. At around the same time a Canadian Army convoy was passing through the village, and a number of vehicles, including ambulances, were seen to divert towards the railway station. My mother, being in the Red Cross, set off on foot immediately to give assistance, followed by my father, who always had a shoulder bag of dressings, etc, at the ‘ready’ in case of just such an emergency. He was slower on his feet, being lame as result of Great War injuries. As a 12 or 13 year old boy, I had no desire to remain in the property alone, and so cycled round to the railway, where I carried bandages and other first aid dressings between helpers. Apart from military personnel, a number of local people, including Dr. James Paterson, had gone to give assistance.

The train was a two coach push-and-pull type, heading from Guildford to Horsham with the engine at the back. Apart from one of the bombs having exploded next to the track, machine guns had also been used. The blast had pulled one side of both carriages off, and pulled much of the glass from the opposite windows through the train; it was this that had inflicted most of the injuries. I believe that seven, or nine, people were killed including the Driver, (who infact, was the first dead person that I had seen in my life up to that point), and a young girl from Cranleigh, who was known to be a talented violinist.

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