On the day the Second World War broke out, the 3rd September 1939, I was 10 years of age, my eldest sister, Joan was 16, brother Reg 8, sister Dorothy 6, and the youngest of the family, sister Betty just 4 months.

It was a sunny day and we were all in our home in Greenford, on the outskirts of London, with Mum and Dad. Some time during that day war started and the warning siren sounded I remember Mr Wittam, who lived two doors from us, come running out with his white tin hat on with A.R.W (air raid warden) written on it and gasmask slung over his shoulder. He had been shaving and half of his face was still covered in white lather, he was running up and down the road blowing a whistle, and shouting “Get inside, get inside”. Dad said, “If any airplanes come over we are all to go to the top of the garden and lay in a ditch” that ran along top of our garden.

Well it turned out to be a false alarm. That was the start of the war for me. We had all been issued with gasmasks well before this; baby sister had one that fitted over her head and fastened around her waist and it had a pump and one had to count ‘one thousand and one’ slowly and then give it a pump. We were not allowed to enter school unless we had our mask with us. They were carried over our shoulder and the mask was in a little cardboard box and some mothers covered the box in a cloth to make it look pretty. All this was exciting and fun for my brother and I.

Later on when the bombing started and we got the odd bomb near us, my brother and I would go to the bomb site as they always set up a mobile canteen to serve the rescue workers and we always got a cake or a sandwich given to us. One of our hobbies amongst my friends and I was collecting bits of shrapnel, that had fallen from exploding anti aircraft shells. During the blitz on London the air raid siren was sounded on most nights although we did not get many bombs in Greenford. We had one house hit in our road and that was by one of our own anti aircraft shells, we also had a few incendiary bombs fall near us. So we always slept in our beds, if the all clear siren was not sounded before 9am we did not have to go to school for that day.

If there was a raid while we were at school we were taken down the shelter that was under our football field. It was a concrete tunnel about 8 feet wide with wooden bench seats running along the sides and there were wooden duckboards on the floor about 3 of 4 inches off the concrete floor as there was always water in there. If the all clear was not sounded after two hours the teachers would give us a Horlick sweet each. When the bombing got bad the whole family apart from my oldest sister went to live in Blackpool where my father was working we were there for about 6 months. My brother and I loved it as we never went to school in all that time.

I left school when I was 14 and went to work in the north of England in a shipyard with my father but, being asthmatic, I returned home after about 6 months and started work in the army ordnance factory canteen. Later in the war I can remember looking out of my bedroom window at night watching flying bombs, known to us as doodle bugs or buzz bombs. You could hear the noise of the rocket engine and see the flame coming from the rear of the flying bomb. When the engine cut out, the flame went out and the engines went silent, I would wait for the big bang. It would dive to the ground and explode, so while the engine was going you knew you were safe.

One day carrying a large tray of meat pies from the delivery van to the canteen where I worked I see this flying bomb coming down. It was so clear that I could see the black and dark green camouflage paint on it. I actually see it hit the corner of a roof of a building 200 to 300 yards from me. The next thing I knew I was sliding along the road on my back. Someone grabbed me and pulled me into a doorway and then I could see all these bits of debris raining down. When things had settled I went back to the van. It had been smashed in with a big lead pipe across the top of it. I remember seeing two army girls sitting on some steps and they were covered in white plaster with blood running down their faces. It was the radio factory that was hit with mostly women workers but I do not know how many died in there. That was the nearest the war got to me.

Submitted by John William Wassell. (known as Bill Wassell)
Located by Greenford Middlesex