大象传媒

Nellie:
I was born and lived in Coventry most of my life. I was married in 1943 at height of war. Remember lots of queues for water and basic foods.

Sheltered from blitz in Coventry. Drafted from laundry because it was bombed and then worked in ammunition factory. When sirens sounded we had to go to shelters until all clear sounded.

Everything closed about 9.00 and people didn鈥檛 dare go out. Had to walk in the dark all the time and it was scary.

Florrie:
I hated the war. We had to use shelter at London Bridge and it smelt musty and was very cold. Doodlebugs used to stop dead in sky and then the noise stopped and I watched one drop in Bow. Also saw V2 rockets 鈥� really big but you couldn鈥檛 hear them. Saw one unexploded as we came out of shelter. Really scared. Had daughter during blitz in my flat on the third floor. Air Raid Warden had to stay with me as I couldn鈥檛 go to shelter. Had to be carried to shelter the next night.

June:
Lived in London. Started work at 14 and worked on the counter of the office which issued ration books and milk tokens. Always very busy. I was ill so gave up job and did factory training and I was promoted to Inspector of the Wireless and WalkyTalky sets.

Food Office asked me to go back but the hours were long as we started at 4.00 in the morning and didn鈥檛 finish until 6.00 at night. Office really busy and near Harringey, Mile End Road in London. Had to catch the train into work and I always felt sick and had to get off at Liverpool Street until I felt better and then back on 鈥� journey took much longer because of this.

Food Office bombed and three of the men were killed. Appointed as nurse although not trained to tend to wounded.

Father was Chief Air Raid Warden and went round area to check if houses etc., were safe for people to return. He worked in small concrete building with asbestos doors and died a few weeks after war ended of emphysema caused by fumes/dust from the doors.

Eva:
Lived at Sarnbridge near St Albans. Husband was a solider in Beds/Herts regiment. He was called up in June as he was in reserves and war broke out in September. He was posted to France. Returned after Christmas and we decided to get married in March. Husband was married in his Sergeant鈥檚 uniform and I wore a white wedding dress. After wedding he was posted to France and was away a long time. He was involved in the Magineaux line and also Dunkirk. He had hidden in sand dunes to escape to the boats. Eventually was rescued from the beach and taken home to Dover and went to Aldershot where the padre gave him money to send me a telegram to say he was safe and on his way home. His uniform was all he had and was in bad state of repair. Stayed in England after that but he suffered nightmares of his experiences for some time afterwards and was never the same person.

Janet:
I was a nurse in training at Romford Teaching Hospital, which is a very large hospital, before war started. Any German patients had to be put on the 6th floor to avoid attack from other patients. They were very cowardly and shook and held onto you and they expected the nurses to protect them although we were only 18 years old. Many ambulances would arrive at one time and sometimes when doors were opened there would be limbs and bits of people and we would have to use elements of clothing to match them up. Really gruesome. As a trainee nurse I was restricted by the hospital in all that I did and had to live in and starved thru most of war.

Jenny:
Used to go skating in bomb craters after bombs fell around Luton.

Aircraft from Hendon crashed into farm near Toddington and the crew thought they were in rural France as they saw lots of pigs. They were scared of being captured by the Germans and were relieved when the farmer spoke English to them.

Frances:
Worked at AC Delco. Had shelters outside and we had to use them whenever siren went. The shelters were machine gunned after a bombing raid in Luton near Vauxhall. Luckily no-one hurt and we just went back to work as though nothing had happened.

Bombs fell in Toddington at Conger Hill and Station Road and there were also 500 incendiaries. Home Guard would set off unexploded bombs. Harlington was closed for 2/3 weeks due to unexploded bomb.

Had land mine dropped in Luton and people thought ground had opened and were very scared.

Bridie:
When war broke out I moved away from London to live in Exmouth with some friends and went into domestic service. My friend and I then got a job in Exeter working at a mens clothing factory which then changed to make parachutes. I volunteered to move to Bristol and worked on grinding machine at factory which made parts for aircraft. Hurt hand and couldn鈥檛 work so moved back to Ireland.

Minnie:
Married for six months when husband had to go to war. He went to North Africa, Greece and Italy and was demobbed from Greece. When he got to UK he then had to go all the way up north to be officially demobbed. He arrived home about 4.00 pm and a friend had carried his kitbag for him and he had thrown it inside my door and said the rest was following 鈥� and it was my Bob coming home. He came home with MS and had this for 33 years.

Bob came home on leave once just before Christmas and arrived about 11.00 at night. He threw stone up at window to wake me up. When he carried kitbag upstairs he fell on the stairs and I said I wished he had broken his leg so that he wouldn鈥檛 have to go back again.

My husband went abroad when our son was 9 months old and came home when he was nearly 5 鈥� they were like strangers. Our son told the teacher at school that his dad had come home and was sleeping in mums room but when we move to another house he will have his own room! Had lots of support during this time as everyone asked how I was coping on my own with the baby and if my husband was alright. People always asked and helped you however they could.

When husband was captured at Camp Pond we didn鈥檛 hear from him for 3 months and when a letter came I was scared to open it and a friend came round. Thankfully it said he was safe. He always sent letters whenever he could. These were special issue letters, small with just enough room for a short message. His friend would illustrate them sometimes with a birthday or anniversary message. I still have these and also the envelopes they came in.

When the war was over he waited a long time in Greece to come home. I had an official card which said 鈥淐oming Home 鈥� do not send any more letters鈥�. This was dated 24 March 1946.

Peter:
Lived in Willesden Green in London as a young boy. Our block of flats was bombed. We fortunately were in shelters. A fireman had just gone on duty and was called back to his own home and found his wife dead. My family was safe. One man jumped from the second storey window and his braces caught on the window and he was almost hung. My father rescued him.

I had no clothes because of the bombing and had to wear girls clothes and was pushed around like this for a while and always cried. Went to live at Aunts for a year. Came back and went through all the blitz and spent every night in the shelter. Had a break on Christmas Day but that was all. Father died of a stroke caused by the stress. It was real hell.

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