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Childhood Recollection of V1 Rocket Damage

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posted on 2024-06-05, 17:34 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

After a visit with two friends to the Imperial War Museum, I managed to get a look at a book there shown to me by an attendant in the Battle of Britain Hangar no. 4. It made me realise how lucky my Mum and I had been.

We were living in London at 15, Suffield Road, SE17 (St. Mary's Ward) when on the night of 17th July 1944 we were in the air raid shelter (a brick built blast shelter with concrete roof) built at one side of the road when a V1 rocket hit our row of houses. At the age of four and a half I can remember coming out of the shelter and seeing that the house I lived in was reduced to a pile of rubble. On top of the pile was either a fireman or air raid warden holding up a round alarm clock shouting out to the crowd of people there "Whose is this?"

The reference for the book showing bomb damage in the area is:
BOMB DAMAGE MAPS
1939-1945
London County Council
by Laurence Ward

History

Person the story/items relate to

George Lockheart

Person who shared the story/items

George Lockheart

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Personal experience of contributor

Type of submission

Shared at Hadleigh Library, Essex on 4 November 2023. Organised by Hadleigh Castle u3a.

Record ID

96920 | HAD019