大象传媒

Told by David:
At the outbreak of war I was 8, my brother Deric 6. We lived in Upper Belvedere and our father worked as a fireman for Callendar Cables.
We were in Sunday School when the first siren sounded its wailing note of warning;war had been declared and we were sent home.We wondered what all the fuss was about. We knew that some Anderson shelters has already been assembled, and ours was a major feature of my life for the first three years of the war. It was made of corrugated iron, buried half way up with earth, covered with a tarpaulin secured by wooden batons. A blast wall, made from the back of our old piano, was sited about two foot in front of the entrance.. The roof and end door were made of parts of a lorry. We kept emergency rations in there, a 'beatrice' paraffin stove and a cable from the house to supply light via a transformer.We used to play battleships and do 'french knitting' using a cotton reel with four nails in the end.
One day Dad came home from work and told us there were lots of small boats on the river. By standing on a chair and looking down the valley towards the river at Erith I could see the little boats in the distance. We didn't find out until later that they were going to Dunkirk.
In the early part of 1940 I was at a neighbour's house, reading American comics with a friend. A 'moaning minnie' sounded, but there was no gunfire, so after the all-clear I decided to go home. Our house was about 12 feet above the level of the road. I'd just entered the steps when I heard the sound of an aircraft. Looking up, I saw three bombs leave the plane, a Heinkel I think. One fell 100 yards away, where I had just been. There was a horrendous bang like a thunderclap. I ran up the steps, yelling for Mum. Mum, my Auntie Daisy and her baby were all lying (unharmed) in the cabbages; they had only got halfway to the shelter.
As a 9 year old my friends and I used to collect shrapnel. We kept special pieces but the rest, often still warm, were taken to the police station. The nose cone of a bomb was secured to the wall there. We were told that the shrapnel was sent to Woolwich Arsenal to make new shells.
My Auntie Faith had Downs Syndrome and we often used to 'babysit' each other. Our secret stash of coppers used to buy us an icecream from Dimashio's. Faith used to express her feelings about Hitler very forcibly,'I'd like to get that Hitler and smash his face in!'
As changes began to happen I noticed cars and kerbstones had their edges painted white, and the headlights of cars were masked for the 'blackout'.Mr Bearman was our ARP man. An older man near us refused to black out and someone painted the outside of his windows with tar!
I remember seeing one bombed house completely gone, apart from a fireplace, mantelpiece and picture on the wall.
My younger aunties, with their small children, were evacuated to Sir Reginald Blake's mansion. My brother Deric was billeted with an RAF sergeant in Melksham. Left in Belveder my education took place in a nearby house, for one or two hours each week. We spent more time watching the spitfires from Hornchurch flying low over Belvedere. Years later I found out they were 603 Sqdn from Edinburgh. I served in 603 in the late 50s, but didn't know until later.
Myths and rumours abounded at that time. The Hornchurch spitfires were rumoured to be underground (actually they were in pens with brick walls either side). Most 9 year olds believed that spitfires circled to meet the bombers and inside the circle they were at the mercy of the guns, outside was fighters' territory.
I remember hearing the big a/a guns at Borstall Heath and being assured by my Dad they were there to protect me. I also remember a gun with a melodious sound; I think it was called a Chicago piano.
Lots of the riverbank factories were on fire for days on end. My dad got four hours off in 24; he would sleep,be woken up to eat, then go back. Despite all these fires, coal was difficult to come by and I queued for hours to get half a cart.
At 11, I got a place at Erith Grammar School but there was no room, so I was sent to Dartford Grammar School. Around Dartford there were fires on the pavements;two chimneys , about 2 ft high, burned old oil which made smoke to hide the moon's reflection on the river, so it could not be used as a navigation aid.
When we first saw a 'doodlebug' we cheered, thinking it we had shot it down. we soon learned to take cover when the engine stopped.
In 1944, at the time of the V1 and V2 atrtacks, I was evacuated to Melksham where I stayed with some lovely people in Beanacre.I had a wonderful experience there.

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