大象传媒

This is a sad story but true. My father told this story not so long back at the age of 80 and was deeply upset still. As I start to type this, I am in tears.

I felt that in some way this would be a tribute to Dolly and Len and to the many others killed in the bombing of WW2, and that anyone reading this account will think of those affected dead and alive today and give them a minute's silence.

The Story

The full story about Doll and Len and there early life i will leave out and start with my dad he was working on the railway (LNER) at Stratford East London as a signaling engineer and was on reserved occupation. When he left work and after a night of bombing he would cycle around to the top of each road where relatives of our faimly lived just to make sure each family was OK and then move on to the next street.

One day he got to the road where Dolly and Len and there baby girl Brenda lived, Dolly was my mums sister and a real live wire? My mum had 7 sisters and 2 brothers like other large faimlies of the day. Looking down the road my dad could see that people were milling about at Doll and Lens house so he cycled down for a closer look and the nearer he got he could see that the problem was at there home. Dad told a policeman near by that family members lived there so the policeman went with him to look in side the house.

They went inside the policeman told dad that the family were all killed, they went from the hallway and room by room there was no damge at all the house and all its contents were untouched. When they reached the dining aera the table was laid for tea with a white table cloth with knifes and forks and the best china, in the centre of the table was a cake with 1 candle on it, it was there babies first birthday but no one was there the house was quite. Birthday cards were on show around the room and there was a small bird in a cage just this and some Civil Defence and Firemen in the garden moving about.
Then it became clear as to what had happened as they were about to start there birthday party tea the siren went so they left to sit out the raid in the shelter out in the garden. While sitting there in the gloom a bomb fell nearby and it was this that had killed them leaving the house and all its contents untouched. Len was called up and was to go into the RAF on the Monday.

My father said that he had to go to West Ham baths to idenify them he said that the place was full of bodies as it had been a bad raid that night and that you had a job to walk about with out stepping on someone, he found them and the baby and to this day still had a bad affect on him.

My mum is till alive at 92 and 2 other sisters and 1 brother, I have been scanning in her old photos and came across pictures of Doll and Len and the Baby who I never met. I talked to mum about them and she said that Dolly had a saying which was " I'M Dolly May with Plenty to say"
Ken Sims

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