About the contributor

I was evacuated at the age of 9 on Sunday September 3rd 1939 to Hawkwell in Essex and later to Coleford in The Forest of Dean Gloucestershire of which I have very happy memories. I returned home to Chingford in Essex during 1943 when the threat of a German invasion was long over but still had to suffer the bombing and V1's and V2's later on. None of my family were lost during the conflict except my aged Aunt Alice who had fallen out of bed in 1940 due to the shock of bombing nearby causing her death. My story is on the BBC Web Site under the titles of "Evacuation to the West Country" and "Back home in Chingford".