大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Sarah Housden of Norfolk Adult Education鈥檚 reminiscence team on behalf of Lillie Hodson and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I lived in Kirkby in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire as a young girl. We used to hear the bombers come over and we knew they were carrying bombs because the sound they made was different. One night my parents got me out of bed to look at the light sin the sky that the bombers had caused when they were bombing Coventry.

My father worked on the railway and he was out one night when a plane came over and shot all down the goods train, fortunately missing the cab where my father was driving. He was quite shocked when he came home.

I was at college in London training to be a Salvation Army officer when the Doodlebugs came over. I went out one night selling the 鈥淲ar Cry鈥� in the pubs. I was passing a brick shelter when the siren went and the Warden was adamant that I went in the shelter. This I refused to do and got on with my paper round. When I finished and returned the way that I鈥檇 come, the shelter that they had wanted me to go in was no more.

Some other girls in the college were on the bus going back to the college when the siren went and as they were passing Southwark Cathedral the driver stopped and asked the girls if they wanted to go into the shelter in the crypt, saying that he would carry on and take them home if they liked. This they did and the next morning they heard that the crypt had been overflowing with water from the Thames and most people lost their lives.

When the war finished we went to the top of the tower of the training college to see all the lights and fireworks, and we stood there and sung hymns and all sorts of songs. After a little while we looked down and found that a 鈥渃hoir鈥� had formed down below and was joining in.

When war finished I wrote a letter to my parents which I still have saying: 鈥淗allelujah! It鈥檚 all over!鈥�.

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