MY BROTHER'S WAR

IN 1944, WHEN I WAS TEN YEARS OLD, I WAS LIVING IN TOTTENHAM, NORTH LONDON WITH MY MOTHER, FATHER AND SISTER. BEING ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF LONDON, BOMBING WAS ALWAYS A THREAT. IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS THREAT THAT MY MOTHER AND FATHER DECIDED TO SEND ME TO HORNCHURCH IN ESSEX TO STAY WITH AN AUNT, UNCLE AND THREE FEMALE COUSINS.

THIS COINCIDED WITH MY UNCLE, MY MOTHER’S BROTHER, BEING HOME ON LEAVE FROM THE MERCHANT NAVY AND SO HE DECIDED HE WOULD TAKE ME TO HORNCHURCH. WE CAUGHT THE BROWN CITY COACH FROM BRUCE GROVE, TOTTENHAM, TO ROMFORD MARKET, WHERE IT TERMINATED. A POLICEMAN GOT ON THE COACH AND TOLD US ALL TO GO TO THE POLICE STATION. WHEN WE GOT THERE WE WERE ASKED WHERE WE WERE GOING AND MY UNCLE, WHO WAS IN HIS UNIFORM, TOLD THE SERGEANT HE WAS TAKING ME TO RELATIVES IN HORNCHURCH SO THAT I COULD STAY WITH THEM. WE WERE THEN TOLD WE COULD NOT BE ALLOWED PAST ROMFORD BECAUSE OF ARMY SECURITY MEASURES AND THE FEAR OF SPIES. WHEN MY UNCLE POINTED TO HIS UNIFORM THE SERGEANT TOLD HIM HE COULD GO, BUT NOT ME. WHEN HE WAS TOLD I WAS ONLY TEN YEARS OLD HE WOULD NOT RELENT. SO WE WALKED OUT OF THE POLICE STATION WITH MY UNCLE FUMING AND WITH INTENTIONS OF GOING BACK TO TOTTENHAM. MY UNCLE SPOTTED A BUS GOING TO HORNCHURCH SO WE QUICKLY JUMPED ON. NO ONE STOPPED US AND WE ARRIVED AT MY RELATIONS IN GOOD TIME FOR TEA.

DURING MY STAY I WAS GIVEN SCHOOLING DURING THE MORNING AS MY ELDEST COUSIN WAS A SCHOOLTEACHER. THE REST OF THE DAY WAS MINE TO DO AS I LIKED. WE USED TO GO TO BED EACH NIGHT AS USUAL, BUT IF THE AIR RAID WARNING SOUNDED WE ALL WENT DOWN THE ANDERSON AIR RAID SHELTER IN THE GARDEN.

IT WAS DURING ONE OF THESE RAIDS WHEN WE WERE ALL IN THE SHELTER THAT I DESPERATELY NEEDED A PEE. WHEN I ASKED TO GO OUTSIDE I WAS GREETED WITH JEERS AND REMARKS LIKE “BOYS AND THEIR WEAK BLADDERS”. ANYWAY, I WAS OUTSIDE PEEING UP THE ROSES WHEN AN AEROPLANE WENT OVER SO, NATURALLY, I LOOKED UP. IMAGINE MY HORROR WHEN I SAW FLAMES SHOOTING OUT OF THE REAR OF THE AIRCRAFT.

WHEN I GOT BACK DOWN IN THE SHELTER I ASKED IF THEY HAD HEARD THE ‘PLANE GOING OVER. OF COURSE THEY HAD, BUT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE ME WHEN I TOLD THEM ABOUT THE FLAMES COMING OUT OF THE REAR. I DID EVENTUALLY CONVINCE THEM AND THEY THEN DECIDED IT WAS ONE OF OUR BOYS RETURNING AFTER BEING HIT BY GERMAN GUNFIRE DURING A RAID ON GERMANY. AT BREAKFAST THE FOLLOWING MORNING MY UNCLE WAS READING HIS DAILY NEWSPAPER WHEN HE CALLED ME OVER AND, POINTING AT THE PICTURE, ASKED IF THAT IS WHAT I SAW DURING THE NIGHT, AND THERE WAS THIS PECULIAR SHAPED ‘PLANE WITH THE FLAMES COMING OUT OF THE REAR. IT WAS, OF COURSE, THE FIRST V1 ROCKET, KNOWN LATER AS A DOODLE BUG.

IT WAS SOME TIME LATER WHEN I REALISED I MUST HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE (CHILD) IN ENGLAND TO HAVE SEEN A DOODLE BUG, BEING SO CLOSE TO THE COAST AND THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MANY PEOPLE UP AT THAT TIME OF NIGHT.

THESE DOODLE BUGS MADE A DEVASTATING EXPLOSION ON LONDON, ALTHOUGH SOME WERE TURNED BACK BY OUR BOYS IN THEIR SPITFIRES IF THEY MANAGED TO TIP THEIR WINGS AND TURN THEM ROUND. BUT THERE WAS WORSE TO COME WHEN THE GERMANS LAUNCHED THE V2. THEY WERE SO FAST YOU COULD NOT SEE THEM AND THE FIRST YOU KNEW WAS THE EXPLOSION.

AFTER THE WAR THE AMERICANS ROUNDED UP ALL THE GERMAN ROCKET SCIENTISTS AND THEIR FAMILIES AND TOOK THEM BACK TO AMERICA SO THEY COULD WORK FOR THE AMERICANS ON PEACE TIME ROCKETS.

IN CONCLUSION, THAT FIRST DOODLE BUG I SAW IN 1944 OVER HORNCHURCH WAS THE VERY FIRST FORE RUNNER OF ALL THE ROCKETS THAT HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED IN THE WORLD’S SKIES.

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