I lived at Malvern Road, Enfield Wash, which was off Ordnance Road and close to the Small Arms Factory.

Throughout the war the Germans were always trying to bomb the factory.

The doodlebugs which were deployed first, you could hear coming but the following V2s you could not.

The V2 was the scariest of the two you ducked after they exploded and then you would hear the sound of them coming because they travelled faster than sound.

Im happy to say the Germans never succeeded in hitting the factory, but they did hit the surrounding areas.

To recount my own personal story: it was June and the year was 1944. My mother gave me a ration book and some money and told me to go and buy groceries from Mrs Davies shop in Ordnance Road.

As I passed Chesterfield Road School, I noticed mothers were converging towards the school to pick up their children. I arrived at the shop, purchased the groceries, came out and proceeded to make my way home.

As I did so I heard a familiar noise the sound of a doodlebug approaching. Gradually it became louder and louder until the air began to vibrate. I stepped off the pavement and moved into the centre of the road so that I could see it.

The next thing I felt was my arms being grabbed from both sides two women rushed me back onto the pavement and flung me down into a sheltered doorway. Get down, they screamed.

Then there was a silence as the doodlebugs motor stopped. The next moment I was lifted up by a big wind. I did not hear the explosion, just the sensation of floating and my face and hands being stabbed by a thousand needles. I opened my eyes. I could hardly see in front of me for the thick

dust and smoke. I stood up. My ears were ringing, I dimly heard screams around me but I could not see anybody. Gradually the smoke began to clear. All I could see around me was rubble strewn across the road.

I started to make my way home again. As I stumbled past the corner of Chesterfield Road, I saw the devastation. The bomb had dropped onto the school playground just behind the church you could hardly recognise anything.

I managed to get home and my mother greeted me with the words I hope you havent lost the ration book.

Our house had sustained damage, most of the roof had been blown off, the front door was blown in and large pieces of glass were sticking out of the furniture where the blast had blown the windows in.

After a while I felt a trickle at the back of my neck. My mother removed a small piece of glass that was embedded in my head. If it hadnt been for those two women, I probably would not be telling this tale today. Two soldiers and a teacher were killed. A friend of mine Sally Jorden also had a lucky escape: she was blown into a water tank that was empty and sustained a large piece of wood embedded in her chest. She went to hospital and survived.

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