She experienced the Blitz shortly after it started as one Saturday she was in Romford market when the air raid sirens sounded. She recalls how frightening it was, and how she cycled home as fast as possible, as the aircraft batteries began firing. Her friend Joyce was bombed out of her house three times. Her family did not qualify for an Andersen shelter, but the neighbours invited them to sleep in theirs. Later, her father built a brick shelter in their own garden. She travelled by train to visit family in Warwick during the Blitz. That night Coventry was heavily bombed, and Margaret witnessed the damage the next day, including walking through the ruins of Coventry cathedral. Margaret recalls landmines, a V-2 rocket in the neighbour’s garden and unexploded bombs, as well as details such as a bomb crater outside the Parkside Hotel which a bus fell into. Just before she was seventeen, travelled to London every day on the train and could see the bomb damage. Margaret worked as a secretary in the cargo industry and due to the nature of the work had to sign the Official Secrets Act.

Her father had served in the Army at Ypres during the first World War. He became an Air Raid Warden during the Second World War. Her future husband Jim served on a balloon battery at Primrose Hill, and survived been impaled on iron railings by the blast of a bomb.Margaret’s brother Ken was in the Royal Navy and his ship HMS Lawford was sunk in the English Channel, by a new aerial weapon. After helping other crew members, he was rescued and spent the next six months recovering at Milford Haven. ]]>
Denise Boneham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Andy Shaw]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> British Army]]> Royal Navy]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwickshire]]> Wales--Pembrokeshire]]> England--Essex]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Coventry]]> England--London]]> Wales--Milford Haven]]> 1939-09-03]]> 1940-11-14]]> 1940-11-15]]> 1945]]>
John]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Jan Waller]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> E[Author]JGreenAW410907-0002,
E[Author]JGreenAW410907-0003,
E[Author]JGreenAW410907-0004,
E[Author]JGreenAW410907-0005]]>
Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Coventry]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Leamington]]> England--Banbury (Oxfordshire)]]> England--Surrey]]> England--London]]> England--Stratford-upon-Avon]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Warwickshire]]> 1941-09-07]]>
WH Pease]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Warwickshire]]> 1944-05-30]]> WH Pease]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Warwickshire]]> 1944-03-18]]> 1944-01-02]]> WH Pease]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Correspondence]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Warwickshire]]> 1949-11-21]]> The RAF ex-POW Association]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Civilian]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Coastal Command]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwick]]> England--Stafford]]> England--Hampshire]]> New Zealand--Dunedin]]> New Zealand]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Warwick]]>