大象传媒

This story was submitted by Rod Sutton on behalf of Ian Nash, the author, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

My story starts when I was about four and a half years old. I was born in London and my first memories of the war were when the teacher came to me in the class and said 鈥測ou鈥檇 better come home because your house has been destroyed鈥�. Bearing in mind I was only four and a half years old I wouldn鈥檛 have this and said 鈥淚 want my Mum鈥�. She took me home to my house. What I discovered was that the house opposite had been completely destroyed and the rafters of this house had penetrated ours right through and I鈥檓 not sure which story, it was a three bed terrace house. I stayed with my mother and the teacher went off. My mother, in her best hat I might add, was getting tea in the kitchen when suddenly the ceiling fell in on her head and, obviously, all the debris all around but because she was wearing this hat, It got squashed of course, it didn鈥檛 effect her at all.

My brother is nine years older than me, his school had been transferred to Budleigh Salterton in Devon and his old school had gone. My mother said 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to get hold of George (hat鈥檚 my brothers name) and find out if we can go to Budleigh Salterton because we can鈥檛 live here鈥�. I鈥檓 not quite sure how she arranged it but the next thing I know is that we left the house, my father was told to get all our belongings sorted out and stored away. We ended up arriving at a little station called Budleigh Salterton and my brother had found some lodgings for us, just Mother and me. My first real recollection of going to school was to Budleigh Salterton Primary School. We stayed there for the rest of the time until I left school. My brother eventually left Budleigh and went to technical college in Cornwall and I eventually got a scholarship to Exeter College. We did actually get our own home in Armitage Road, Budleigh Salterton which is still there as I鈥檝e been back and visited the neighbours who are still there.

The next row of houses was hit by a lightning strike by a German aircraft and we were told he dropped his bombs before disappeared back across the channel and he demolished some of the houses in the row.

Whenever the air raid sirens sounded we used go down the Anderson Shelter which was at the bottom off the garden and what would happen, it would be night time of course, the family that鈥檚 Mother and Father and other people would rush down with all their provisions because we didn鈥檛 know how long we were stay in the Anderson Shelter and I would be stuck on a little chair in the middle of the garden while they rushed past me putting stuff into the shelter and I used to watch the searchlights go and hear the banging and crashing of bombs dropping wondering what the hell was going on because I was only tiny and then at the last minute they would pick me up and I鈥檇 be thrown into the shelter as well and was where we鈥檇 spend the night.

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