Memories of lucky escapes from bombs

Charles Norman John Graddon, born in 1907, was employed in civil defense in Walsall in the early part of the war where he met and married Helen Graddon nee White, born in 1915. He was too young to fight in World War I and too old in World War II. They were living in Walsall during the Coventry Blitz and went there later to clear up. Around 1942, they moved to Kensington as Charles was posted there for civil defense. Helen was a secretary. Their daughter, the contributor's sister, was born in 1944 at Hammersmith Hospital. The family lived on Warwick Road between Olympia and Earl's Court. Charles took Helen to the hospital for the birth and while returning home along the Hammersmith Broadway, he became aware of a doodlebug from its noise. It fell a couple hundred yards from his car and exploded. Charles took Helen out to Lyons Corner House for afternoon tea. The place was hit by a bomb not long after they left.