My war while at school

My story begins on 3 September 1939. On that Sunday morning we (my family) were all in church. The offertory had just been taken up when the air raid warning sounded. The preacher pronounced the blessing and we all went outside. I was only eight and a bit fearful. We all decided to go to my grandad's house which was close by. I cried because my dog was at our house on his own!

Then we had some weeks off school St.Mary's, Merton while brick shelters were built in the playground.

During the blitz I slept with my older brother in the cupboard under the stairs. I still recall the dusty/gas like smell. The raids were often long and fierce. Our parents slept on the floor outside the cupboard but disappeared upstairs as soon as the all clear sounded.

At secondary school we were often in the shelters. A number of my friends were "bombed out".

For us in SW19 the doodlebugs were worse. We used to watch them fly low over our house and a few times, cycling home from school, I lay on the ground as one's engine stopped and it fell and exploded.

We also missed a V2 quite closely. We had to travel on a trolley bus to get from school to the sports ground. On a wet day we didn't go. A V2 fell at the bus stop we would have used!

On VE day we put out a couple of flags our dad had and in the evening went up to the West End to celebrate.

My National Service came later (1950-1952) I was glad to have missed the war in that but memories of the war are still very bright.

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