大象传媒

Thomas Baylis was in his early teens during the war. He lived with his mother, father and four sisters, in Teynham, near Faversham. His school was a thatched barn, with around fifty children between two teachers, Miss Manley and Miss French. The teachers lived opposite his house and the children would often walk to school with them.

He had to leave school early, at the age of eleven to do farm work. He worked at a small farm, Loosen Street Farm, with four other boys of a similar age. His sisters remained at school during the war, they where all younger than him. He was a protective older brother. He remembers hearing the air raid siren when walking to Sunday school with two of his sisters, he tried to protect them by making him shelter under his coat.

His father worked with the Home Guard at night, patrolling the railways, Mr Baylis would enjoy going on these patrols with his father. They had a Morrison shelter in their kitchen, which could house six people. His mother did farm work. She worked on a bigger farm than Loosen Street Farm, doing activities like picking cherries.

Although the family lived in the country Mr Baylis can remember many incidents of enemy fire. German planes flying overhead (on the way back from an attack) would fire at the farm workers while they picked sugar beet, they used to shelter underneath the carts that they would collect the vegetables in.

During the war a German fighter plane crashed half a mile away from his house. There were five or six Germans within the plane, some had survived the crash, but the plane had caught fire. Firemen came to put the wreckage out, the Germans within the plane signalled for them to back off, but they carried on trying to put out the fire. Soon after the fire caused a bomb within the plane to explode, killing two firemen, injuring three, none of the Germans survived.

He can also remember another bomber crashed in the middle of a row of terraced houses, a lady had just returned from shopping with her two children, unfortunately none of the three survived the crash. It later found out that her husband has been killed a few days earlier (he had been in the army, fighting abroad).

Near his house some orchards were bombed. One dinner time he remembers hearing machine gun fire, and running to the window, to see a Flying Pencil in combat with a Spitfire, one turned out to be polish.

The war finished when Mr Baylis was fourteen. Unfortunately he suffered nerve damage, which doctors believe to be a consequence of the war.

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