��ѿ��ý

The worst time of pupil absences was during June and July 1944 when the V1 attacks were at their height. For many weeks we barely made double figures of pupils in my form — one day only five were present! While a fresh evacuation did take place, many parents did not send their children to school just to sit in the air-raid shelters all day. Once the “imminent alert” system became effective when one only took cover when a V1 was overhead; we sat outside the shelters on the grass only running back down underground again when the klaxon sounded indicating danger virtually overhead.

Although not legally old enough to have a paper round of my own (13 being the magic age), I used to help my brother at weekends with his round during the Summer Holidays of 1944. The V1’s were still getting through albeit in fewer numbers now, but one Saturday morning in August we were in the middle of the deliveries some way from home, when the klaxon sounded and we heard the distinctive sound of the “Doodlebug’s” engine. The only thing we could think to do was to very rapidly crawl underneath a large lorry parked in the road. The V1 engine stopped and we waited --- luckily it dropped two or three roads from where we were and we felt the vibration. We finished the paper deliveries and got back home to a very relieved mother who knew that the weapon had exploded somewhere hear to where we were. When I started paper round of my own in September 1944 a V1 destroyed several houses on my round, making it quicker to complete each day!

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