大象传媒

Living through bombing raids at Gillingham

My husband, Alfred was an electrician, the government said he was too valuable to fight, they thought he was more use at home so he was sent to work at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. He was given just a weekend鈥檚 notice so he went to work there and I stayed with my mother in law. That winter I fell pregnant and it was difficult for him to get home often so he asked me if I would move to Kent where we could rent a house in Gillingham. I said yes 鈥� if we were going to be killed, we would all be killed together. They called it Hell鈥檚 Corner there. My mother in law went mad. My daughter was 3 years old before we left in June 1945.

While we were in Gillingham we lived next door to the Vicarage. They had 2 sons who were at college in Maidstone. When there was an air raid I used to go down to their cellar, with the baby in my arms and the dog wearing a muzzle! We used to sleep in hammocks. Me, the baby, the 2 boys, their parents and the dog! The doodle bugs were over all the time, roaring overhead.

I was shopping one day with the baby in the pram, I was only in the next road to ours, and you could see those overhead dropping things and hear them. There was 1 little child gave the most awful scream, 鈥淲here鈥檚 my mummy, where鈥檚 my mummy?鈥� It was terrible, I鈥檝e never forgotten it. But we got through it. Life was so difficult; shopping was exhausting. We lived 3 years like that, in danger. My husband used to come home from work so tired he didn鈥檛 know if he was sitting or standing up. He used to say to me 鈥淚f you hear Big Bertha (that was the big anti aircraft gun in the dockyard) you MUST go straight to the shelter and not go until you hear the all clear.鈥� People said I was lucky 鈥� I had a husband who was at home but it was terrible there.

One day after the bombing had stopped, I was out shopping with the baby and I saw Jim, the vicar on the other side of the road. He shouted across to me 鈥淗ello Mrs. Butler 鈥� I鈥檓 not going to speak to you anymore now that you don鈥檛 come and sleep with me!鈥�

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.