Doodle Bugs

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Chris Greenfield from Bodsham Primary School and has been added to the website on behalf of Mr. James Nichols with his permission and he fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

At the outbreak of war I was living in Hythe, Kent with my mother (my father was in Egypt for the duration of the war running the Egyptian Delta Light Railway). I was six years old at this time. I vividly remember the first air raid siren of the war sounded as mother and I were walking on the canal bank. We dived for cover; fortunately it was a friendly aircraft! Shortly afterwards I was evacuated to Laycock, Yorkshire and my mother moved to Crowborough where I was to join her later. Just as well as our flat was bombed or shelled.

Whilst at Crowborough I attended a Dame’s School run by the Misses Haskins. One was a poetess of note who wrote the poem quoted by King George VI in his Christmas broadcast (1939 or 1940) “I placed my hand in the hand of the man at the gate” etc.

My mother moved to a job in Cranbrook in 1941 and from 1943 I attended Cranbrook School as a boarder, where I was very happy. During the summer holidays I worked on John Lawrence’s farm at Hartley Dyke. Troops were stationed all around us particularly in the lead-up to D. Day. Monty’s HQ was nearby. On one memorable occasion the school was entertained by Kenneth Horne and ‘Stinker’ Murdoch of ‘Much Binding in the Marsh’ fame,

One day in July 1944 at the age of twelve years, I was in a group of boys being given fielding practise by Mr Frank ‘Joe’ Evans, our Mr. Chips-like bachelor Games Master, on Big Side cricket field. Suddenly a low flying VI doodle-bug came straight towards us followed by a British plane which was firing at it in an attempt to bring it down before it reached a more built up area. We became aware of spent bullets stitching a line across the field right through our group of fielders. ‘Joe’ said “take cover” — in an open field! — And we duly lay down. A bullet hole appeared right beside me; I put my finger down it and withdrew it quickly as the hole was red hot. Quite a close escape.

As boys we experienced much excitement dodging V1’s on the Romney Marshes, Kent (by this time the family had moved back to Saltwood) and met many of the American GI’s manning the guns which took over from the fighter planes which had been trying to intercept V1’s over the Channel. One of our masters who had joined the RAF, Mr. Jaeger was killed on such a mission, I believe he had been attempting the practice of tipping the doodle-bug’s wing in order to reverse its direction of flight back to France and presumably got too close.

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