大象传媒

This story has been added to The People's War Website by CSV Volunteer Olivia Davey on behalf of the author Geoffrey Dunster who understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was born in 1936 in the then leafy London suburb of Chingford, right on the north-eastern edge of London...in fact, then as now about 100 yards from our back gate Epping Forest started which extended for miles into rural Essex.

We had an air raid shelter in our back garden and I can recall we spent night after night sleeping in doubtful and damp comfort at the height of the Blitz in the early years of the war to the accompaniment of several anti-aircraft batteries in action on the edge of the nearby forest. We had a daily shrapnel-collecting business!

Happily, the bombing threat receded after a year or two and we were able to spend most nights in the house. Meantime I had started at a nearby school which itself suffered some bomb damage one night and classes were distributed to various people's houses- including ours-whilst repairs were made.

As the War started drawing to a close we experienced the first Hitler's Vengeance Weapon (or V1) more commonly known as the Doodlebug or Flying Bomb. A small pilot-less aeroplane with a massive explosive warhead that became a familiar sight and sound-in fact, we sincerely hoped the sound continued since this meant the beast would continue on its way and drop elsewhere.

Most were aimed at London and programmed for the engine to cut out somewhere over the capital. The bomb would then go immediately into a dive, which was followed after a few seconds of eerie silence by a massive explosion normally with much damage in the area of impact.

Having lived through the Blitz, the British were not too put out by the arrival of this beast and it was soon realised that the attacks would have to go on for years and years to sustain an appreciable amount of damage and the invasion of Europe was imminent!

However, they could only be shot down with great difficulty and they arrived by day and night several fell in the Chingford area and I had the experience of seeing one fly past our kitchen window at low altitude at which point the engine stopped. It fell in the next road, demolished two houses with the blast damage extending over a wide area including many of our windows!

We learnt to live with these horrors but what followed was in a different category. In the summer of 1944 I was at school one morning when suddenly there was a very loud bang followed by a loud whistling noise this was one of the first V2s, or Rockets arriving which fell about a mile from the school on the edge of Epping Forest the crater can still be seen today.

This was completely different peril not only undetectable but completely indefensible. I believe it carried even more High Explosive than the V1. So an immediate evacuation of school children away from London was put into action.

This new hazard had arrived about the time the D-Day invasion was in force so happily for us there was lots of accommodation available in safer areas as the armada of troops-British and foreign that had been based in Southern England crossed to France.

Our whole school complete with staff and many Mums (most of whom either had husbands in the Services or had sadly become war widows)- embarked on an interminable train journey destination unknown. After many hours and many delays we arrived in Penzance tired, dirty, hungry and home sick. We were taken to the Praa Sands Hotel near Marizion, which had just been vacated by the American Army happily they had left behind bunks and bedding, china and even some food, we rapidly learnt to enjoy Spam and powdered egg.

The long suffering school staff resumed our education- we were 5 to 12 year olds- whilst the Mums ran the Hotel side cooking and cleaning for our party. The caterers were pleased to discover that rationing was on a completely different scale to London with an abundance of butter and eggs and the area awash with milk.

We remained at the hotel until early 1945 when we returned home- another nightmare journey but under happier conditions. Some of us were lucky enough to have visits from our parents during our stay in Cornwall as travel conditions eased.

Of course, the threat of the V1's & V2's had slowly diminished as their launching sites were gradually over-run by the advancing Allies in the latter part of 1944.

AFTERWORD

Our house in Chingford was subsequently demolished damage to the foundations caused by the V1 remained undetected for some years. Flats now stand on the site.

Epping Forest owned by the City of London remains largely unchanged.

I visited the Praa Sands Hotel in the 90's which was still much as I vaguely remember it- to my surprise the manager proved to be the son of an old Navy colleague.

The current management of the hotel had no idea of it's wartime history - neither did the current management of my old school! They have since corresponded with each other to fill in the gaps.....

I settled in Cornwall in 2004.

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