大象传媒

This is to confirm that Madeleine Wardley let her story be published on the web-site on behalf of the 大象传媒 World War 2 project. Madeleine Wardley understands what this project is about.

It was 1943 during the summer, I was 16 and I was living on the outer part of London, in the edge of Surrey. The whole area was protected by barrage balloons held by cables. I was inside my house and it was evening. At the time I was earning my living as a secretary. I had just given my mother the good night and I had my hand on the door knob when the house fell in! It was still day light but we were stunned for a few seconds as plasters fell on me and dust went up the nostrils and the eyes. The noise was horrible and the eardrums were damaged. My mother and I worried about my baby sister but fortunately she was alright so we picked her up and managed to make our ways out. We stood by the gate not knowing what to do. We realised that it was a doodlebug that caught us. Usually they were very noisy and we always went inside the shelter when we heard it, but this one must have caught the barrage balloon cable and silenced the engine and glided in without sound.

The front door was on the floor and we trodden out to the gate until somebody in the road gave us shelter for three or two night until we were sorted. The house was completed damaged, unliveable; the roof was open to the sky. A was shaken up, tremors were running through my body. It took long for the house to be repaired and thieves stole many things in the meantime. Some people further down the road took us in for 2-3 nights until we found somewhere else. This was a shelter for bombed up 鈥攑eople, I was young so I could adapt to the situation. We slept in bunker beds, me, my mum, my little sister and my brothers. There weren鈥檛 many people inside, just a couple. For a few days there were enough food to keep us going.

After this episode, my mum and the younger sisters and brothers went to stay with a friend in the countryside, while I stayed at my best friend鈥檚 house. There was a shelter under the table in the dining room which would only take two people, and once we were in it we lifted the grid to protect us from all the shrapnel. I was getting close to serve in the war, we were taken in September as land-girls and our first job was in Walton on Thames, we both worked for a year in a market garden long side the river, then I wanted to learn more so I transferred to government land where the grow a lot food, as they weren鈥檛 always sure that the ship with food would arrive.

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