大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Simon Harris and has been added to the website on behalf of Rudolph (Ron) Austin with his permission and they fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

My family had recently moved from Gravesend to Dartford where I had soon made new friends. One day I was playing in Hesketh Park when a dogfight took place above us which littered the sky with vapour trails and tracers.

I looked around and realised that an aircraft was coming towards us. I watched as it clipped the roof of a house before ploughing into a laundry and a bowls club on the corner of the cricket ground. There was then a mighty explosion and bits and pieces were flying everywhere. I ran to the playground shelter and remained there until the debris had finished falling around it. Souvenirs were of course highly sought after by children at the time. I saw some webbing with a clasp and also a red hot metal strap, and took it home with me. My mother was not happy when she saw my souvenir because she had noticed a piece of bone wedged in the webbing. Naturally she took it away.

I felt sorry for the pilot when I realised that there had been loss of life in amongst the excitement of the plane crash. Years later, when the war had finished, my mother threw out the rest of my collecting of assorted shrapnel and debris.

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