大象传媒

I was still at school when the war started, living near Stretham in South London. My sister and I were gearing up to be evacuated to Canada - I didn't even know where it was - but the trip was cancelled. I only found out after the war that the ship had been torpedoed and many children had died. I ended up staying in London throughout the blitz.

I left school at fourteen and joined an engineering company making components for tanks and aircraft. At fifteen I joined my father in the Home Guard where he was a Sergeant. The day before my seventeenth birthday the foreman came and said that I could stay in the company if I wanted ( it was a reserved occupation postition ) rather than join the Army. The following day I travelled up to Croyden and enlisted into the Royal Engineers. My mother was tearful and my father was angry but he had also volunteered in the First World War and understood how I felt.

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