大象传媒

When my sister-in-law Joan decided on the date for her wedding to Ralph little did she know it was a date due to go down in history.

On September 7th 1940 I travelledfrom my home near Watford to attend the wedding at St Margaret's church in Leytonstone, East London.

Half way through the ceremony the air raid sirens suddenly screamed their warning and the noise of gunfire became so frightening that we were all ushered down to the crypt, where we stayed until the "all-clear" sounded.

The sight, when we finally surfaced, was unbelievable - parachutes still dropping over the Common, known as Wanstead flats, and various services, fire engines, ambulances etc. all in action.

That evening we tried to cross London to return home, the newlyweds to their new flat near Edgware, and me to Watford, but discovered that all transport was in a chaotic state due to the bomb damage, and the London rail terminii were all closed, so we made our way on foot and by various lifts for several miles around the outskirts of the City.

Eventually we found an empty train standing in a suburban station, around the Willesden area I think, so climbed onboard hoping that it might move North sometime, and sat in the dark eating the bridal couple's wedding cake.

After several hours I did eventually arrive at my destination, a country station just before Watford, and could hardly believe the sight of the red sky caused by the horrific Dockland fires over London, many miles away.

How were we to know then that September 7th 1940 was the first day of the battle of Britain, one of the most eventful dates of World War 2.

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