大象传媒

When the war started we were living at Charlton, near the Thames in south east London. There were factories all around, like Johnson and Phillips cable makers, Siemens and, not far away, Woolwich Arsenal.

As time went on the air raids started. I was in bed at nine, then up and down the shelter, always about 11 when the siren sounded. Many bombs dropped all around. The first thing I did in the morning was to go all round the garden looking for shrapnel.

When the battle of Britain was on I used to stand with my grandfather and watch spitfires
dog-fighting overhead. Also when the bombers came the guns on Blackheath were fireing at them, missing and causing big puffs of smoke.

Another time we went to my Aunt Mins' at Welling, just in Kent. We should have returned home early, but for some reason we stopped the night. On returning home next day we found there had been a blockbuster dropped on the corner of the street. Many houses gone, shops destroyed. Many of my friends killed.

Our house had the roof lifted, all windows, including the frames, blown out, ceilings down,
brick partition walls with gaping holes. One
miracle in all this, the budgie and his cage had been blown across the room with the ceiling on top of him,but he was still alive and lived many years.

To come back to the blockbuster. One of the shops that was badly damaged was run by a lady. When she finally reopened the shop. we were amazed at her face as she'd had plastic surgery and her face was covered in pink lumps of new grafted skin.

Another casuality was my friends brother, who
was playing in the street at the time; he had
both his legs blown off. Many others died that day.

Then as the war progressed we had the doodlebugs. I can hear that roar even now, as we watched them come over with the flame and roar, then suddenly the noise stoppedand down it came. We always said a thank you if it passed over.

Then finally the V2 rockets: you could not see or hear them; it was just a bang.

When the war finished bomb sites were made
beautiful by that well known weed with pink flowers.

Up the hill from us was Blackheath and there were quite a few natural craters, and all the waste material and bricks from miles around were brought. It became a sight-seeing trip, as they made great mountains of the rubbish.

Life continues, but the memories and the lost loved ones never fade. But still people want wars, will they never learn?

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