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I was living in Langley near Maidstone during the war, just me and my mother as my father had been called up and was serving in Africa and India.

I remember one particular night when I was about three. It was around two or three in the morning when I suddenly found myself being carried down the stairs by my mother. We lived in a row of houses that shared a communal garden, and before they’d been called up our fathers had built us all a bomb shelter there. The German bombers were flying by, and I could hear the bangs and see the tracer bullets of a nearby anti-aircraft battery flying through the sky. It was like a giant firework show, watching those bright lines of fire heading up into the sky. I wasn’t excited by it at all though, just totally scared and full of fear. We got into the bunker with the rest of our neighbours, and probably spent about four or five hours down there, just huddling together in fear.

To this day I still tingle when I hear the air raid warning going off at shows and things, I still get that funny feeling and the memories all come rushing back.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by James Barton from Westree Learning Centre and has been added to the website on behalf of Edward Smith with his/her permission and they fully understand the site’s terms and conditions.

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