- Contributed by听
- csvdevon
- People in story:听
- Jeanette Macdonald, Lilian Macdonald, Reynal Macdonald, Charles Rickwood
- Location of story:听
- Leyton, London E10
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A5145581
- Contributed on:听
- 17 August 2005
This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Alison Lear on behalf of Jeanette Elliott nee Macdonald. The story has been added to the site with her permission. And Jeanette Elliott fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.
I was born in 1938. I was too young to be afraid of the war because I didn't know any different. My clearest memory was of the air raids. My mummy was claustrophobic and wouldn't be separated from me and go into the Anderson shelters. When the bombs came in the blitz (1940) we used to hide under the table. Mummy said "If we go, we go together", I replied "where we going?" and she said "to the pictures!"
When my daddy found out we didn't go into the shelters he was very upset and told mummy to take me there. He was in the army in REME.
In August 1944 we were bombed out (we lived in Leyton, East London). It was the house I was born in. I remember standing holding my mummy's hand and she was crying. My mummy was pregnant at the time. Luckily we weren't in the house but my granddad, Charlie, was in the cellar and they got him out alive although he was badly injured. (He live on for a few years afterwards). He was found with our dog Paddy on top of him, licking his face. The dog survived too. We think the dog saved him by licking the dust off his face and helping him to breathe!"
We had to move to West Ham to my Aunt Flo, mummy's sister. Malcolm, my brother, was born there in December 1944. We were bombed out of that house too although again we were not in it at the time. We finally moved back to Leyton where I lived for 57 years!
I had lots of memories of the bombing. I remember being at the pictures when the local bus garage was bombed but I was more upset about Bambi's mum dying in the film!
I also remember the women counting the "silence" of the doodlebugs" just before they exploded.
A good memory was of my dad sending American chocolate in a box, which he got from a US General and my mother made chocolate biscuits- a real treat!
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