My Mother's War

AT the start of WWII my mother and her family were living in East Ham in London. During the first air raids to hit London they lost their house, coming back from sheltering in the Underground to find it completely flattened.

Six months after being re-housed, they lost their second house in another air raid; however Gran still refused to send my mother and her younger sister to safety, and so were rehoused a second time.

They seemed to have lucked out with this house, as others all around them were struck but theirs remained untouched; sadly, during this time of relative good luck, mother was to witness one of the most horrific sights of the war.

Sitting on the playground wall during lunch break, she watched as a German bomber flew in low and strafed the playgound. Twenty of her schoolfriends were gunned down before her eyes.

After this experience, Gran started to consider the possibility of evacuating from London, but still she held on until they lost a third house in yet another air raid. At this point, Gran decided enough was enough, and moved the whole family to Wakefield, where they sat out the remainder of the war.

Mum's experiences during the air raids on London, and all the help the family received from the services each time they lost their home or friends, led her to decide to join the ATS as soon as she was old enough - eventually rising to the rank of RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) before quitting to marry and have a family.

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