ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

In 1943-4, my mother was an insurance agent covering an area of Thurrock which was partly rural. In my school holidays, I used to accompany her with my bike to help collect the weekly premiums as was the way then!
One lady, called Mrs. Plumb, lived in a council house in a small development 100yds from the road which ran from South Ockendon to Stifford.
On one occasion,in summer 1943, a doodlebug landed and exploded just across the road in a farmer's field, but the blast badly damaged the council house where Mrs. Plumb lived, so for several months we collected her premiums from a temporary address at Stifford.

In summer of 1944, I again went helping my mother, but was shocked to learn that Mrs. Plumb had been bombed out again, this time by a V2 rocket which had exploded in virtually the same spot as the doodlebug.
It was rumoured that Hitler's staff knew where every doodlebug landed and sometimes arranged for a V2 to repeat the performance!

How unfortunate for Mrs. Plumb, but like many before her, she had a great sense of humour and joked about her misfortunes.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.