大象传媒

I was only five when the war commenced, but remember Mother reading the paper and saying how terrible it would be. She had lived through the first world war.

We lived three miles north of Pulborough, Sussex on a farm with my Parents and younger Sister and being so young I cannot remember the order in which the incidents occurred. This was such a pretty area and not far from the River Arun. We lived halfway between Portsmouth and London and depending on which side of the house we were, we saw the flack from guns and bombs from London or Portsmouth. Close to us we had a Searchlight Battery so often at night we could see the searchlights 'playing' on various German aircraft as they came overhead, and this caused many to drop the bombs they were carrying so it was not unusual to have them land within our vicinity.

One morning after we had heard dull thuds we were told that four or five bombs had been dropped in a field on the next farm. As I was taken to school by car, which was also carrying the milk to deliver in the Village, we were diverted from the usual route, as the bombs had not exploded. Later we were told after they had been defused by the army, there were hand written notes inside saying 'With Love from the Czechs'. Recently I have been to Krakow(Poland)and now understand how Schindlers Jews could have been responsible.

Another memory was the Battle of Britain; this took place directly overhead at our home on the farm. We all stood at the back door and looked straight up into the beautiful sunny clear sky above. Aircraft were above us buzzing around looking like flies, my Parents cheered when a German aircraft fell from the sky. I remember one coming close to our farm gradually falling in flames and engines racing. It first appeared to be coming directly at us but turned away. We heard it explode as it hit the ground, and thought it was probably in one of our fields. Father got the car started and we drove until we found the place where it had fallen, in fact it had missed our fields but landed in a field opposite. It is something I will never forget, the smell of burning Gorse bushes, a finger hanging in one and a boot with a foot inside. The Police arrived soon after and we were kept away from the actual aircraft. The 'nose' had burried in about ten feet of earth and the tail was some distance away. We learnt later that the papers found on the Pilot stated that he was only eighteen years old. Even to day when there is a gorse fire anywhere, this all comes back to me and I can still see the finger and foot in the boot.

My first school was a Private school in Pulborough Village where Father used to take me on his way to deliver the milk. I remember one day the Railway Station was hit with two or three bombs and the school was less than half a mile from the scene. When any air raid sirens sounded we had to put our wellington boots on and go down into the cellar at the school. The Teacher would then read us stories from some books kept solely for this purpose, but I cannot remember one story, I think I was too worried as to what could be happening outside and if our home was involved. The reading was obviously to try and distract us from what was going on. One winter the water in the cellar became several inches deep and the Teacher decided enough was enough and evacuated the school. I did not go with them as I was living on the farm.

The second school I attended was on the outskirts of the Village but still three miles from home. In the summer I walked home across fields all on my own. I can still remember the smell of the wild flowers in the hedgerows and the corn in the field, and see the insects and birds flying all oblivious of the war. On arriving home I would have to change out of school uniform and go and bring the cows in for milking. Father was often busy doing other work on the farm so I was made to help. Men that had been employed in the past had been called up in the Army. I often started milking the cows on my own, and still not ten years old!!

One Saturday lunchtime Father heard a German plane, it was so easy to recognise as they had a special sound of their own. He went to the back door to look (he was in charge of 'Dads Army' locally) Suddenly he pushed us inside and told us to get under the stairs as he had seen a bomb released. We sat there shaking and wondering where it would land, but we only heard a dull thud. A Neighbour called a few minutes later to say it had landed against the Manor House wall just a few feet up the drive from us. Next day we visited the house to inspect the damage. Luckily the explosion had only been very small and most of the house was still intact. That Saturday stands out in my mind as we were about to eat some rice pudding, we eventually ate it cold!

Later in the war were the V2 or Buzz Bombs, I awoke one night to the loud engine of one just over our house, it must have been flying very low and it suddenly stopped and all went quiet. I dived under the bedclothes and waited for the bang. It had come down in the field opposite and near the river, it left an enormous deep hole. It brought down part of my bedroom ceiling but luckily it fell beside the bed and not on it! I remember Mother saying had it hit the bed it would have fallen on my head and killed me as it was such a large lump. This was the only damage we had during the war other than a cracked window pane.

Those days were very worrying even to a child, my stomach still turns over if an aircraft with a German engine flies by, or an air raid siren sounds although possibly in a film. These things seem to have been printed on my mind, although we were not involved like many other people in London and other Towns. Now when the subject of war starting any where such as Iraqi it still brings everything back. Young people who have never gone through a war do not understand how it can affect people for their whole life, I never want to see another one.

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