Close Encounter

I was five years old when the war started. I lived at the same place in S.E. London throughout the war (I wasn’t evacuated). My brother and I saw everything that happened around us. Although I can remember many things, I will just tell you of one.

We were playing in Blythe Hill Fields one day. In this park you can see right across a large part of London to the north. Suddenly we saw a tremendous explosion about a mile away to the north east. It had to be in the centre of Lewisham somewhere, and must be a flying bomb (only the newspapers called them “doodlebugs”).

We started running in the direction of the explosion because we wanted to see what had happened. As we ran down Crofton Park Road we suddenly saw another flying bomb clear the houses on the eastern side of the road and fly across in front of us, missing the houses on the western side by about 10 feet. Then there was a tremendous explosion on the other side of the houses where Guys’ Hospital sports field was. I found myself standing still, open mouthed, as glass and dust and bits of roof tile flew all around me. I saw with horror my brother lying flat on his face on the roadway. When he got up I realised that, being two years older than me, and so more sensible, he’d flung himself on the ground before the explosion.

Despite what had happened we ran on and arrived at Lewisham High Street to find a scene of complete devastation with all the rescue services working hard to quell the fires, help the injured and, I’m afraid, remove those who hadn’t survived. This, I suppose, must have been sometime in 1944, though I have no written record or picture to confirm this. I often wonder whether the scene of destruction that day in Lewisham was one of the worst of the war caused by a flying bomb.

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