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JOHN’S WAR MEMORIES AS A CHILD

This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by Ryan from Dover Road school and has been added to the website on behalf of John Petherem with his permission and fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Johns family lived in Colyer Road, Northfleet and he was 3 when the war broke out. He had a sister called Janet who had only just been born.

One day a 500 pound bomb landed 2 doors near John’s house and 1 person was killed.

John used to talk to the people who fired the anti-air craft guns as they were situated in a field near by.

Whilst cooking one day John’s mother in law had a stew on the range and a bomb landed in a pit opposite their house and the vibrations brought the soot from the chimney into the stew.

In John’s shelter he remembers the smell of the Swan Vesta matches lighting the candles. His shelter was damp and dark. John had fun collecting shrapnel and watching the dog fights. He used the bomb sites as a playground.

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