大象传媒

When the Second World War started on 3rd September 1939 I had recently turned 18. I lived in Streatham with my parents, two brothers and a sister. My brothers were older than me and my sister younger.

After the initial shock of the War announcement had passed life seemed to go on as usual until June 1940 when Dunkirk was the focal point. Then things changed. The Battle of Britain had begun. I was working in a shop in Streatham High Road and with other adjoining shops a Fire-Watching Unit was was set up. Staff from all the shops spent one night a week each to be on duty all night. We had a base in the biggest shop - men, women, boys and girls all doing 'our bit'. We were taught how to deal with incendiary bombs that had fallen - either with sand or with a bucket of water and a stirrup pump. On Saturday mornings the Fire Brigade showed us how to handle the big hoses - very hard to hold when the full pressure of water was on. The Fire Brigade also trained us to crawl through smoke-filled rooms and when and when not to open doors because of fire. I am thankful to say that all of these practices never was never needed for a real situation.

When I was 20 I had to register for National Service - either in the Forces or as a munitions worker. However, before I was called up I was able to go and work in a factory in East Dulwich where telephone equipment was made. Twenty girls were wanted for a specialist job to do with field telephones used by the Army. I left home at 6.00 a.m. and walked to East Dulwich station from Streatham in order to start work at 7.00 a.m. On dark mornings I only had a small torch to show me the way. If a raid had happened in the night I often came across rubble from bombed houses and also water from broken pipes. I worked until 6.00 p.m. and then walked back home. London was being bombed every night so I was sleeping in an Anderson Shelter in the garden of our house in Streatham. My two brothers were long gone from home - one to the Tank Regiment and the other to the Royal Artillery - both of them in North Africa. I joined a Women's Home Guard Group where I was taught first-aid, morse code, unarmed combat and how to fire a rifle. All in preparation should Britain be invaded -which thankfully never happened.

Although we had the Blitz and later the V1 and V2 bombers coming over, Streatham didn't suffer as badly as other places. Our house was not hit or damaged. I am happy to say that both my brothers returned home without injury despite being in some very heavy fighting in North Africa and then in Italy.

Thanks be to God.

Eileen Pexton
Silver Circle Reading Group
Wandsworth Libraries

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