Kent

At the (Sea) Front

There was the distinctive drone of the "Doodlebugs", the unmanned bombs, directed up the Thames...

Memories of Fire Watching

We lived in Orpington and I used to watch from Mrs Muggings’ house which was on top of a hill......

First Aid Post

Before the war, the Casualty Commandant, Mr. C.J. Clark arranged for St John's staff and Red Cross...

I Always had My Tin Hat and a Gas Mask

After I left the BBC in December 1940 I started working on the railways with my uncle who was a train...

The Tally-man

It was 1940 summertime, a lovely day; the tally-man had just called for his money when the air-raid warning...

Incendiary Bombs in Park Road 1941

I came up the cellar stairs and our neighbours' daughter, Eileen Potter, ran round and asked "is...

My Father's Home War.

Cory, Dad used to shunt coal from the Barges coming down the Thames to the Coal yards... Food, as we all...

Memories of an Evacuee

On Saturday September 2nd I moved to Ditton near Maidstone in Kent, with my sister, as evacuees... Mum was...

A Near Miss November 3rd 1940

Mother had food cooking in the oven; suddenly there was a horrendous chilling roaring noise, Mum grabbed...

Bombed Out in Bromley

They walked down the garden, which is 120 feet long to the shelter; mother stepped in the Anderson shelter...

Under the Cupboard

There wasn't much room 'cos there was only me and my mum in there when Dad was at work as my three...

The Kentish Streets Where I Lived during WW2

As children we were treated to a Puppet show, with sugar almonds in an eathernware beaker given by the...

Where's My Daddy Gone?

My mother kept me aware of his presence in the family by frequently showing me a photo of 'my...

Learning my Seven Times Table

The children were trying to learn the 7 times table and I seemed to get stuck on 7 x 7. The witch”...

Dunkirk Evacuation

Desperate to let my mother know he was safe, as the train slowed through Staplehurst station, he handed out...

A Narrow Escape

A friend of mine had a brother in law who had been in the Navy, he had come home on leave after...

HMS Wasp, Dover. Photograph 1939/1940

This is a very small part of a large Panoramic photograph taken of the personnel stationed at HMS Wasp in...

Knitting

Work 56 rows of plain knitting on the remaining 72 stitches... Knit 2, purl 2 on these stitches for 12...

Battle of Britain: Harvesting Potatoes in Kent

Eventually, they finished the potato harvest that afternoon and returned to Oxfordshire in the evening....

At home in Deal & Dover

My stepsister, Edna, was working in a baker's shop in Dealcirca 1943 and the whole shop was bombed with...

Tales from a sister

Communication was very hard telephone was difficult because most of them didnt work and if they did they...

Bomber Over Wingham

This is a story my grandmother Lily Dorothy Freda Bake told me many times... She was cycling to work one...

Ted Wynnes Story 1944

My friend Alec and I went to see it, we hid behind the covered way. He served on "The Glorious" an...

War Memories of a 2-8 Year Old Child

When my mother got fed up with us sleeping in the shelter night after night, whe made up a bed under the...

One Of My Memories: Field Marshall Montgomery

My sister and I used to go-with lots of other children-to the Odeon Cinema on a Saturday morning......

My Dad's Army

My father, Harold Austen, was a motor mechanic with the East Kent Road Car Company at Westwood,...