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鈥淭his story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Jan Hewett, a volunteer from 大象传媒 Three Counties Action at The British Legion on behalf of Jim Boddington and has been added to this site with his/her permission. The person fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.鈥�

Name: Jim Boddington.
Location: Elephant and Castle.
Title: Home to be Bombed.

I was nearly 19years old when war was declared. Born in London near the Elephant and Castle, the office where I worked was T.J Smith and Nephew in Tavistock Square. When their London office closed I was out of a job and was sent to stay in Kent with and Aunt. I was homesick. The bombing had not yet started so I returned home. That very night an aerial torpedo ripped through our entire road, flattening our house. My mother joked, 鈥� What did you want to come home for? We were alright before you came back.鈥�

Name Connie Whiting
Location: Elephant and Castle.
Title Sweet Blood
I looked for a job in London for a few months and took one with an insurance company. The Sea Insurance Company 鈥� Now called The Sun.
I was evacuated to South Croydon and stayed with another aunt at Coulsden in Surrey. I returned home again and within a week the bombing started again. When the raids were on we had to shelter in basement beneath a big sweetshop across the road. One night an aerial torpedo hit the whole road of houses and wiped it out. We were buried in the shelter and had to wait for the A.R.P.men to rescue us. I was asleep when the torpedo struck. When I awoke I felt my arm all sticky and when a torch was shone on it being red I thought it was blood. Then we discovered that above in the sweet shop a bottle of Sarsparilla, used for making drinks at that time, had broken and dripped through the floor and down my arm. My mother lost everything, our home, shop and business. It seemed nothing could be salvaged, as the building was unsafe. Being selfish all could think of was a very nice coat, which I had saved up for and bought. It was a beautiful grey 鈥� Harella鈥� model. I had never had such a beautiful garment before and it had taken me ages to work and save for it. It was now in a box on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom. At the time I never gave a thought to my poor mother with her life鈥檚 work in ruins.

Name: Connie Whiting.
Location: South Norwood.
Title: One Needle for 30

We had to stay with my mother鈥檚 old Aunt and Uncle in South Norwood. There were 4 of us in a 2-bedroom house. But they were so kind. They made up beds for us all. There didn鈥檛 seem to be anyone official to help in those days. We were just lucky my mother鈥檚 Aunt took us in until we could find somewhere to live. We were helped to obtain a maisonette and 18 months after that I was called up into the A.T.S. (Army Territorial Service) and sent to York Barracks (Fulford) for training.
We had to be up at 5 am wash, barrack our beds, clean our buttons and lay out our kit ready for inspection ready for inspection before breakfast.
After breakfast out on the barrack square for drill and then medical inspection. Oh how stiff our arms were and we still had to drill everyday. For the injections we lined up and they went down the line jabbing. No new needles so if you were at the end of the line you got the same needle which had been used on 20-30 girls. It was quite blunt by the time it reached the last of the line.

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