大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Swindon College on behalf of Phyllis Benson and has been added to the site with her permission. Phyllis fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was born in 1912 and when the second world war broke out, I was working with Grays Council in the public health department. The building was very close to the Thames Estuary. During the night especially if there was moonlight, the German planes could see the water quite clearly and used it as their guide during bombing raids. When the raids came during the day I often used to see the bombs being dropped. The 鈥淎ck Ack鈥� bombs were very very loud and I remember how it used to make our bungalow shake quite violently. (I lived with my mother). There was always a pause while the gun was reloaded before the next series of bangs. The younger people I worked with, were all taken away for more essential work to do with the war.

The council had its own way of sending messages to say that German planes were getting near. You would get a phone message and the words 鈥渞ed, green or orange鈥� were codes denoting how close the German planes were. We then had to go into our allocated positions, such as to the first aid party, or rescue party, search party, surveying party, etc. The one thing I remember is how little people at work talked about the work or events that were happening or what they did. This was because you were never sure if spies were listening, or if someone was passing on your information to any one else. You were always scared of people passing on information.

I met my husband while working here. He worked for a publishing company that printed technical journals (he was a designer) but when war broke out the supply of pulp to make paper which came from America ceased. He then came to our office looking for work, and he was put in charge of the first aid section. Before long he was sent away to the army up to Yorkshire.

We got married in 1942. I went to see the Parson on my own. During the conversation he said he really wanted to meet my husband to be. I remarked 鈥淪o would I鈥�. He looked rather stunned until I explained that he was somewhere in Yorkshire. In order to attend his own wedding my future husband had to get a pass in order to get home! I had a few extra coupons in order to get wedding clothes.

While at work one day we had a message to say that there was a flotilla of boats coming over across the channel. This was at the time of Dunkirk. Initially we had no idea who these boats belonged to, but eventually discovered they were boats from Holland. As the Germans had advanced over Holland, Dutch families went to live on boats. These boats were trying to escape and sailed across to England. We were all very sceptical to start with as we had no idea who they supported etc. Their boats were immediately seized and taken to ferry our men back from Dunkirk. All the dutch people were taken by coaches into a school. There were a few hundred of them, men women and children. I was left to organise some food for the new arrivals and got in touch with the WVS. They brought along blankets and gave them some food that evening as well as some breakfast the next morning. Next morning they were taken to the station to be evacuated by train 鈥� none of us were told where.

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