- Contributed by听
- Eleanor Fell
- People in story:听
- Michael Westlake
- Location of story:听
- London
- Article ID:听
- A1156394
- Contributed on:听
- 26 August 2003
This story was e-mailed to Southen Counties Radio by Michael:
"In early 1945 my Mother,Sister and I moved from Okehampton to my Grandfather's house in Camrose Avenue, Edgeware. North West London was being subjected to V1's "Buzz Bombs" as well as V2's.
On a sunny day in February, the whole family, including my Grandfather, walked to the bottom of Camrose Avenue where it met The Edgeware Road, and caught a bus to Oxford Street.
On our return, about 12.30p.m. we returned to find the Avenue closed off by barriers.
My Grandfather protested that we lived in number 134 and wanted to go home. The Policeman said "You used to live there - a V2 has dropped in the middle and it's quite a
mess", but he let us pass.
Walking up the Avenue we first passed houses with roof tiles missing, then ones without doors or windows, then some without roofs.
Closer to the impact there were houses where the outside walls were gone but the floors were still intact, with beds, furniture and ornaments still in place. There was then some large piles of bricks and finally a very large hole in what had been the road, with damaged sewer and water pipes. Further on the scenes were repeated until we finally stopped short of number 134, which was surrounded by a large privet hedge. My Grandfather searched his overcoat, jacket, waistcoat and trousers for the front door key and finally, finding it, we were permitted to move on - only to discover that the Front Door was missing! We subsequently found the door in the kitchen at the back of the house, and the back door at the bottom of the garden!
A Repair-Gang arrived and re-fitted the doors, patched the broken windows and put the cold water tank back in the loft having removed it from the bed in my mother's bedroom where it had come to rest!! One more V2 fell while we were there - in the Park behind the houses- luckily damage was minimal.
During the whole of our stay in London, my Grandfather only once got us up. It was around midnight during a particularly bad night when as many as twenty V1's were dropping around us - mainly in the Burnt Oak area. However when he entered the Anderson Shelter he found, much to his discomfort, that it was two feet deep in dank water ... the exercise was never repeated !!"
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