Surrey

A Schoolboy's View of Food Rationing - Veg and Hot Puddings

Vegetables were not rationed and the supply of these was eased by many people digging up their back gardens...

My Parents' and My Memories of the War

He fought in France, North Africa, Italy and the Far East, Singapore, Malaya, Rangoon, Bombay. In Burma he...

September 1st 1939 - Evacuation Day

We marched from the school to Streatham Common Station and boarded the train but it wasn't until we...

The Exploding Headmaster

Officially they were ‘Flying Bombs’ but to us small boys they were always either...

The Parachutist

I was born in 1935 and during WW2 I lived with my parents and younger brother in the village of Burpham,...

Recollections of Colin Metcalfe, Part 1 : the Phoney War and the Canadians

My Uncle and Aunt had no children, and I had one older sister, Jean. My maternal grandparents, both in...

Bruno Dominico de Grussa

In the summer holiday which followed, Bruno and I worked in partnership at the nearby Mason's Farm. On...

My Wartime Memories of Egham

Next morning, it transpired that the glorious Luftwaffe had targeted an aircraft manufacturing factory at...

Close call in Redhill

In Oct 1940, I lived with my mother and one evacuee in a flat in a rather large house in Redhill, and...

Mosquito glue invented in Ewell - Was it a Mosquito that crashed on the Downs?

Plane crash on Epsom Downs There have been several stories and rumours about a De Havilland Mosquito...

'I didn't like the country'; A Westminster Girl Returns to London by Stella Aiken

'I didn't like the country'; A Westminster Girl Returns to London by Stella Aiken. Many of the...

The Night Our House Fell on Top of Us

After this episode, my mum and the younger sisters and brothers went to stay with a friend in the...

Two Chosen for Evacuation: Heston to Hoyland

I lived in Heston, near Heston Aerodrome, where Neville Chamberlain landed and declared Peace in Our Time...

Evacuation to Stoke on Trent

WWII Evacuation to Stoke-on-Trent Some time around 1944 my mother, my brother and myself were evacuated...

The Gang Was All There

Home was on the Surrey-Hampshire border in a village that was only a short route march away from the home...

A Childs Tale: Evacuated to Redhill and Huntingdon

Help’ was handing out mugs of tea, chocolate and cigarettes to the hundreds of soldiers on trains...

Memories of My Early Days

I was 17½, living with my parents in Redhill near Reigate when war broke out working in a Steel Wool...

Air Raid Wardens

On the corner of this building was the remains of an office, which, after cleaning up was used by the...

Memories of World War Two

Everything was rationed; food, clothing and we had ration books with slips of paper for butter, cheese,...

Memories of Doodlebugs and Corsets

When the bombing started, my mother had made us all go with the children to hers to hide in the cellar....

The bombing of Croydon Aerodrome

At this point my friend and I had reached the corner and turned into the street, so that we were at the...

Anecdotes of Living in New Malden

One day I was over at my Aunt's at Kingston upon Thames. The air raid sirens went and it sounded like...

A Young Child Recalls Sirens and Hymns

My father played the piano and hymns or choruses were sung and a real time of fun and fellowship was had in...

The Smallest Firefighter

In Cologne he saw Hitler Youth marching and in the crypt of the Cathedral he saw people filling ammunition...

Childhood Memories of the War in Ashford

He used to cycle fifteen miles in all weathers from Ashford to Slough to work, because of the petrol...

An Early Air Raid: On Guildford

It must have been shortly afterwards that we were walking on Pewley Downs, which were at the back of our...