麻豆官网首页入口

1939 to 1946
I lived in Sittingbourne which only had a couple of paper mills but we happened to be on the route to London so was used as a dumping gound from returning German Bombers.

Although I was only 4 when war started and 10 when it finished I still get flashbacks to those days. The following are some of them.

My Mother was Daisy Moore/Rumble. She was a local proffesional pianist who had played in the silent cinema then dance bands and had the chance to join ENSA but gave it up to look after me aged 4 and Dad.

During the war, weekday local dances were held in the town at the Carmel Hall and Lloyds Clubhouses at Sittingbourne and Lloyds Kemsley and all the local villages.

Saturday dances were usually every month held at the Town and Drill Halls and all had live bands of between 3 and 12 playing. They allways played during air raids.

I can remember one vivid time during a fire bomb attack at a dance at the Carmel Hall. My father always met my mother and took me along so we were inside when one of the incendiary bomb just missed my mother playing the piano. She jumped off the stage and was caught by a couple of soldiers as flames shot up all round her.

After the initial shock, some of the forces present, climbed into the roof to knock down some fire bombs lodged in the ceiling so preventing as much damage as possible.

I will never forget that night, leaving that place and seeing all of West street alight as we stepped over the debris around us as we made our way into the air raid shelter by Pub called the Volunteers no longer there now. We the had to wait to find out if our house was still standing.

Another time my mother and I were returning home from visiting an Aunt when the air raid warning sound and we were quarter of mile from home. She decided to run for it as Dad was indoors , I was about 6 or 7 and must have slowed her down but probably at the time I thought it good fun to run along with Mum!

As we run home the planes started bombing and just as we emtered the house there was a terrific bang with dust and glass all over the place followed by silence.

My parents checked our house and all seemed ok and we hid in the cupboard under the stairs waiting for moore bombs. After a while the ALL CLEAR sounded followed by a lot of shouting and someone
banging on the front door.

I was let out to play in the backyard/garden but after a while I found what I took to be meat laying on the ground and was about to take it indoors when Mum and a man carrying a bucket I think (our local Air Raid Warden) came out and took my piece of meat. It was part of someone from a family of seven that had a direct hit and their body parts were strewn all around for hundreds of yards.

I also remember collecting the shell casings falling during the dog-fights taking place overhead. Seeing planes falling in flames and trying to visit crash sites for souvenires, the blackouts and Dad telling me to be quiet so they could listen to the wireless.

At school we were made to sleep/rest on camp beds for one hour a day because of the night-time raids. I cannot remember if I did.

David Rumble

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