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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ (Penny Ryan) on behalf of Beryl Dean and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Dean fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

In 1944 - the year the Doodlebug bombs started - I was working for an insurance firm, Bray Gibb and Company. They had relocated from Bishops Gate to a big house on Ringley Park Road between Redhill and Righgate. We had to do firewatching on the premises. The staff had a night-time roster. I was on duty every 10 or so nights. I slept in a camp bed in the office. A night watchman would wake me up if there was an air raid alert.

On the night I remember most vividly, I was covering an additional night shift for a colleague who was on holiday. There had been heavy Doodlebug bombing for four nights in a row. I was woken up by a tremendous bang. It was still dark. The telephone rang shortly afterward. It was my mother. I thought she was calling to check that I was alright. Instead, she warned me that I may be shocked when I came back home.

Upon daylight, I walked back to my home on the corner of Earlsbrook and St Johns Roads. The police had sealed off the street. I saw that the house 150 metres away from ours had been completely flattened. I later learnt that thirteen people were killed. Our house had giant holes where the windows used to be. When I entered my bedroom, I found the heavy wooden window frame resting on top of my bed.

I just think to myself that if it weren’t for doing someone else’s firewatch, I would have been killed. I am lucky to still be here, married and with two children.

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