大象传媒

This story was submitted to the people's war site by Henryka McDuff and has been added to the website on behalf of Mr Ian Mills with his permission and he fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was only four years old when the war started, and therefore my experiences are somewhat limited to the area in which I was born and my early school days.
Hastings, where I was born and lived for some eighteen years, became part of the front line during the war; enemy bombers unable to reach their target, London turned back and headed for home unloading their bombes on the way to lighten their load and increase speed. Kent and Sussex were badly hit by this indiscriminate bombing. They also suffered from the V1 flying bombs and then V2's in 1944/45 bringing heavy casualties.
In one of these raids, I had a very fortunate experience when my school was hit. It was at Barton school, St. Leonards-on-Sea, when it received a direct hit during an air raid. It was a solid, converted Victorian house with about 80 pupils, boys and girls up to the age of 16. The bombs bounced in the garden and fell on a nearby house where it exploded.
Walking home that day, all transportation having been halted by damaged roads and buildings, I found my home with broken windows only.
Memories of the steel Morrison air raid shelter tables came to mind. At the sound of the air raid warning, we would all scrumble into our shelter with food supplies to await the "All Clear".
My grandparents home in Hastings was badly damaged and the house next door received a direct hit. My grandfather was buried under the rubble and had to be dug out. He was quite badly injured.
I was evacuated several times with my mother as Hastings was considered too dangerous for children. I went to Dawlish with my school also North Harrow, Tunbridge Wells and finally Burnley in Lancashire.
My worst experience was at Barton School, but many people had horrific situations. However, I think that my wartime experience as a child fortified me in later life when I worked in Kuwait and was taken hostage in August 1990. I was then taken to Baghdad for three months as part of the human shield.

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