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This story is transcribed by me Graham Shepherd , from notes following discussions with Margaret Dye , and will be added to the site with her permission.
She understands the sites terms and conditions .

Having returned from being evacuated to Sussex life began again at home in Earlesfield with my parents .

I joined the 82nd Wandsworth Squadron ATC , who had had a set of brass band instruments given to them and I volunteered to learn . The Bandmaster was WO Johnstone-Harrhy who had been invaded out of the RAF Central Band after 12 years service with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry band . I learnt to play the Eb soprano cornet and then went onto the Bb cornet , becoming the principle cornet player and eventually the Band Sgt .

Meanwhile I was studying Navigation , Morse etc. in preparation to apply to the RAF for training as either a pilot , navigator or bomb aimer ( PNB ) having being made a Flight Sgt . ( I was also taught how to conduct the band by the Bandmaster ) . Our first engagement was to be part of a large parade in Hyde Park in 1942 ( ordered by Churchill for the improvement of moral as we had had no success having just lost Tobruk to the African Corps ).

One of the bands was that of the US 8th Army Corps. under a certain Captain Glen Miller . When the Parade was held up we saw that it was due to the US band doing their ‘ fancy marching bit ‘ , which was new to us . The band in front of us was a Home Guard Band , consisting mainly of WW 1 veterans . The comments were quite robust - such as " typical bloody Yanks ", think they are the only ones on parade . Mind you they were about 50 strong .

During one bombing raid an unexploded bomb fell in the middle of Garratt Lane about 300 yds. from our block of flats . The road was roped off and guarded by two Air Raid Wardens one of whom ran the ‘ off - license ‘ opposite the flats . He was badly shaken . I estimate that it was about 250 lbs . which had caused a deep crater breaking water mains and sewers etc . , but not much structural damage had happened to the surrounding buildings . When I got home I had to go to the off - license to get my dads daily pint of beer , as he was an invalid by this time and died in Jan 1945 .

I was helping out at a local newsagents shop in Earlesfield Road going in early in the mornings to make up the rounds for the delivery boys . One morning , the boy who delivered the papers to the Prison Officers maisonettes which surrounds Wandsworth prison did not turn in . It was winter time with blackout in force so I had to deliver the round . An execution was due to take place at 08-00 ( everyone Knew about these from the papers ) . As I was going up the stairs in one block the prison clock struck 08-00 just as I was about to put the paper through the letter box a black object with glaring eyes flew past me . I think I must have created an Olympic record for the time I put that paper through the letter box and flew down the stairs to my bicycle . It was a large black cat .

At the age of 17 ¼ in Feb. 1944 I volunteered for the RAF , but was turned down when they discovered during my medical that I was partially deaf in one ear .
Although I was offered any position in ground crew , I rejected this and on the way home on the bus passing through Trafalgar Square I saw a recruitment notice for the Y scheme entry into a commission with the Royal Navy .

I applied and was accepted and the only thing they checked was colour blindness so that you could read the ‘ flag and pennant ‘ signals ! My service career started then in March 1944 and I was called to full time duty in late August 1944 .

Having finished my School Certificate , I worked as a lab assistant at the school in Clapham while waiting for the instruction to attend HMS Royal Arthur .

The V 1’s ( buzzy bombs ) were being fired at London from the French and Belgium sites and later Holland . Two incidents are in my memories .
The first was when we were leaving school one foggy afternoon and could hear a V1 ( typical sound of a pulse jet engine ) . It seemed to have passed over ( that was when one realised how selfish one could become . If the engine stopped it was liable to fall near you . If not you were reasonably safe ) . However this one returned and I assumed that it had been damaged . The RAF fighters at that time could match their speed and either fire on them or tipped their wings thus changing their direction of flight . As this one turned I saw several young pupils of the school and told them immediately to kneel down on the pavement and cover their ears . Fortunately , although it fell close by we were unhurt , but shaken . It must have looked odd to everyone seeing us . but it was the safest position to take .

The other incident occurred when I was returning home on my bicycle with two friends . The air raid warning had gone and we were on Clapham Common , which overlooks Garratt Lane and the river Wandle valley . We saw this V 1 go down . They always created a large volume of dust as they had a contact fuse and some 40-50 houses could be damaged , but no crater . ( the V2 rockets fell from 20,000 ft and made a deep crater and possibly only damaged 10-15 houses ) .
I realised that the V1 had dropped near the block of flats where I lived so we cycled as fast as we could to the area . It had landed the other side of Garratt Lane to our flats . Our flats which were not damaged , but one road further away was .

We went to the site , not to gawk , as we had seen sufficient bombed properties and craters , but to help if possible . The mobile rescue column had just arrived and were searching for casualties and helping the injured . By this time these columns usually consisted of 3 or 4 heavy fire engines , 3 trailer pumps , heavy and light rescue lorries al manned by the Civil Defence Teams and 4 to 6 light ambulances , each of which could take 2 or sometimes 4 stretchers , plus a doctor , nurse and VADS . The column commander in the leading appliance would be in touch with the local fire station via a ‘ walkie talkie ‘ set up with an observer on top of the local fire station hose tower , who could see all the action and direct the column , which either waited in a convenient area or cruised around the streets .

While they were at work one of my friends noticed a set of stairs intact with the door to the underneath closed . When we opened it there was a woman aged about 50-60 covered in dust sitting on a chair . She had the grey parlour of a fatality , which was confirmed by the ambulance men . People would often take refuge under the stairs rather that go to a shelter .

We saw also two ambulance men walking a casualty towards the Doctor ( obvious white coat and arm brassard ) We were within earshot and could hear . Apparently a shard of glass had gone through the woman's chest . The Doctor asked for 4 triangular bandages , one he wrapped around his hand and instructed the ambulance men to made a pad of two of them . Then while they held the woman he grasped hold of the glass shard with the wrapped hand and gently extracted the glass . As the glass disappeared from her back the ambulance men slapped his pad over the wound and the other over the front wound . The Doctor then wound a bandage around the chest and instructed them to get her to hospital immediately .

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