大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Marie on behalf of Valerie Hill and has been added to the site with her permission. Valerie fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

In 1942 I was 10 years old living in Woodford Bridge, Essex with my mother and her three other children. Our father was off "at war" and we were the Williams children. Before dad went he鈥檇 spent a lot of time building an Anderson shelter in the back garden and we spent night after night sleeping in it. To us children it was a delight. Mum used to come down with us and nightly she鈥檇 read us one chapter of a special book called 鈥淧ixie O鈥橲haughnessy鈥� but all any of us can remember was it concerned the schooldays and adventures of a young girl. We鈥檇 listen wide-eyed in the candlelight as she read.

One evening Mum said she wasn鈥檛 going to the shelter but would be sleeping in her own bed. This was greeted with howls of disappointment, there would be no story, so we pestered until she agreed to come with us, read one chapter and then return to the house to sleep in her own bed. The siren sounded, but Mum said the All Clear would go soon and she would wait until that happened then she was going indoors.

About halfway through our treasured treat, the gun at the back of Millmans Hill started firing and there was the sound of planes overhead and bombs falling all around. Suddenly there was the shriek as one fell very close. There was a crunch followed by screeching and a loud bang. To us it was very frightening.

Mum told us not to be afraid but to sing as loud as we could and she started at the top of her voice. She made it seem like one of the big adventures she sometimes took us on. She told us that the sandbags that Dad had put in the opening had fallen down and someone would get a shovel and dig us out.

Suddenly we heard voices, the ARP team were in our garden calling out to see if we were ok. Knowing we were alive and hearing our voices, they started digging. We heard the two old ladies who lived next door calling for 鈥渟omeone to get them out. We are old people鈥� and I will never forget Mr Phillips - Head of the Team telling them 鈥渢here鈥檚 a young family here and they are coming out first. You鈥檝e had your life, they still have theirs to come鈥� So the rescue team carried on digging until they finally had us out.

The stench was awful. To get out of the garden we used the side entrance and that involved paddling through water. Colleen and I held the hands of the rescuers. Michael - protesting he was old enough to walk - was carried by Mr Phillips and Sheila - the baby - by Mum. We didn鈥檛 know what happened but it appeared a bomb had hit our chimney, slid down the roof, fallen in the street and exploded, fracturing both gas and water pipes. We spent the rest of the night in the public shelter. At first we were shivering and without blankets until Mum accepted the generosity of neighbours who soon had us warmly covered and tucked up in bed asleep.

We all agreed 鈥渢hanks to Pixie O鈥橲haughnessy for saving Mum鈥檚 life鈥�. The windows had blown and all beds throughout the house were spattered with pieces of glass - nowhere would have been safe.

What makes me remember this so well? Because someone thought we were important enough to come first and because we never did get to hear the end of the Pixie O鈥橲haughnessy story - the original book got destroyed.

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