- Contributed by听
- 大象传媒 LONDON CSV ACTION DESK
- People in story:听
- Dorothea M. Johnson, Irene Connor, Florence Fiala, Sydney Henning
- Location of story:听
- Greenwich, London
- Article ID:听
- A6989287
- Contributed on:听
- 15 November 2005
On the September 1940 Saturday that the Blitz started, aged 17 yrs, my friend Florrie Phillips and I were visiting my newly pregnant sister Rene Connor in Greenwich. My brother Syd Henning, also lived in Greenwich with his wife Kitty and 3 month old son Michael. Our family home was on the Isle of Dogs, connected to Greenwich by a Foot Tunnel.
After lunch, Florrie, Rene and I were watching aircraft dogfighting from a high window of the Regency house when we heard bombers approaching, and our interest turned to alarm. We descended to shelter underground in the coal bunker that extended under the pavement. The noise was deafening, with a colossal crash on the road above us, that, we learnt later, was part of a German bomber. We had our Rosaries and prayed for everyone!
During a lull in the air raid, as dusk approached, Syd appeared with his family, and we decided to join forces and get back to Mum and Dad on the Isle of Dogs. Accordingly we made haste to the Foot Tunnel entrance to learn the devastating news that it was out of order, having received a direct bomb hit some hours earlier.
Not all doom and gloom however. My brother discovered a man with his own rowing boat, who agreed to deliver us to the other side of the river. It was an unforgettable journey. The whole of Docklands had been set alight and battered and bombed all afternoon, leaving the river a mass of flowing and burning debris of all shapes and sizes.
To me with my Foot Tunnel mentality it was a world turned upside down. The doughty boatman was as good as his word. He manoeuvred us between the flaming wood and bales and oil drums and trees to set us down on the Island Gardens not far from home.
I held baby Michael for part of the journey. I thought of his innocence and ignorance of what was going on around him, and I remember thinking to myself
鈥淚 shall remember everything that has happened this afternoon for as long as I live鈥
And so I have!
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