大象传媒

Interview by Steve Murphy with Mrs. Mills of Westgate-on-Sea.

I was invited into the house and we sat comfortably in the large front room. I started the conversation by asking her bluntly what her wartime memories were. Without any thought she looked at me and asked 鈥� 鈥淲hich war?"

鈥淚 remember the First World War. I was eight years old when the First World War broke out and I remember two things mainly, that was my brother who was seventeen. He went and joined up much to my mother鈥檚 dismay. We lived in St. Margarets adjoining Richmond all our lives. My brother went to France and was badly gassed. He was sent home and demobbed. My other memory was of a day playing in the garden when this beautiful silver airship came over. We were all out there looking at it shouting 鈥楥oo Mum come and have a look!鈥� When she did she said 鈥楥ome inside quick it鈥檚 a German Airship!鈥� But it never did anything it just seemed to be out for a stroll."

"The Second World War was quite different. The first winter was quiet but they started in earnest the next winter with an air raid nearly every night. One evening they made an attack on New Malden near Kingston. As well as dropping bombs they fired exploding bullets. One went through my sister鈥檚 air raid shelter and into her shoulder. The neighbours couldn鈥檛 find any vehicle to take her to hospital so they used a wheelbarrow. They pushed her nearly a mile to hospital. When they got there the corridors were lined with stretchers. Her husband came and said it was just like a field hospital."

鈥淪ome while later we had a terrible raid on us lasting for hours. A warden came and asked if we were 鈥楶helps鈥� telling us that just a short distance away there was a warehouse in flames. He was trying to find the owners. My own house was blown in from the blast from a land mine. Mother lost five cottages. I was glad to have moved in with my parents. After the warden had left I had just managed to close the door when there was a crash on the door it made me jump. We had a bucket of sand in case of fire.鈥�

鈥淚 was looking out of the bedroom window once when I saw a plane coming over. There were flames coming out of the back. I felt so sorry for I knew it was going to crash and thought the pilot would be killed. It was that evening that I heard on the radio that it was a 鈥楧oodle Bug鈥�.鈥�

鈥淭he worst experience was some two years later. My sister moved in to a flat near the hospital where her daughter was working. My husband being on leave joined us when we went over to visit her with our two girls. No sooner had we arrived when the gong was rung to warn everybody to take shelter because the 鈥榖ug鈥� was coming overhead. My sister pushed us all into the hall cupboard. Thank goodness it went straight over. We got the tea ready when the warning started again. The man on the top of the hospital was gonging frantically so we got back into the cupboard just in time! The bomb landed just beside the hospital. We caught the blast 鈥� the noise was terrible. All of the windows were blown out and some of the doors were split in half. We were four stories up and because the lift was destroyed it took us some time to get down four flights of stairs as they were covered in glass and very slippery.鈥�

鈥淲e got used to the 鈥楧oodle Bugs鈥� landing as we were shopping. When we heard one we would all disappear under shop counters until it passed over then we went on shopping until the next one came.鈥�

Thank you Mrs. Mills.

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