大象传媒

Douglas Cooper of Dartford

3rd September 1939. The Day War Broke Out. Memories from Erith in Kent.
I was eight years old. I don't think that I had ever heard of Adolf Hitler at this time, but I did know of our Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and I had heard the grown-us talking about another war; but I didn't know what it was all about.

They were all talking about the Prime Minister going to see the Adolf Hitler, and getting an agreement about something, and things had to be sorted out by 11 o'clock this morning. The grown-ups knew what it was all about, they had all experienced war in 1914 - 18, the Great War. Most of the kid's Mums and Dads at that time were only children themselves, but most of them had lost someone in the family in the Great War; so they knew what to expect if there was another.

At this time we lived at 10 Winnifred Road in Erith. At the top of the road was an open field with a high sand cliff to the left. The cliff was twenty feet high, quite stoney at the top, but it had nice soft sand at the bottom. It was a wonderful place for the kids to play, digging in the sand and sliding down the cliff on tin trays, or just on our backsides. There was not one kid without a hole in the backside of their trousers, even the girls.

This particular day was just like anyother day to start with. There was about four or five of us boys and we dug a big hole in the sand at the bottom of the cliff with the idea to make a camp. Stanley Jackson and myself went off to find something for the roof, we found a large sheet of corrugated tin, just the job we thought, and Stanley and I started to carry the tin sheet back to the hole.

It must have been about 11 o'clock in the morning because all hell seemed to break loose, Church bells started ringing and air raid sirens started to wail. But Stanley and I didn't take much notice until I heard my Dad shouting and calling us from the top of the cliff. Stanley promptly dropped the tin sheet and as it hit the ground it pulled out of my grasp and its sharp edge scraped painfully right down the backs of my legs. When we reached the cliff there were several Mums and Dads there collecting their kids and they told us that war had been declared with Germany. Little did we know then what was to follow.

Racing Forward in Time. 3rd September 1989
This was the 50th anniversary of that tragic day. I was driving over to Plumstead in Kent to pick up my Aunt Vi, to bring her over to our house for the day. I just happened to find myself about to drive past Winnifred Road, I slowed down and decided to turn into my old road. It was just the same as it had always been, but where the field and the sand pit had been there were houses now. I looked at my watch, it was dead on 11 o'clock. I sat in my car for a while and thought of that day all those years ago, and of those loved ones who are no longer with us.

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