Memories of the London Blitz, World War Two, Olive York (1916-2003) interviewed by Barry York 1992

Olive York (nee Turner) was born in Hackney, London, in 1916 and grew up in West Hampstead. Her father, William George Turner, died when she was ten. Her mother Daisy (nee Willmott) worked as a charlady while bringing up three children - Gus, Olive and Vida.

I recorded my mother in 1992 for the Australian National Library's Oral History collection. I have excerpted 24 minutes where we talked about life in north-west London during the Nazi German Blitz over London, which lasted for eight months from September 1940. More than 20,000 Londoners were killed and many more wounded. A million houses in London were destroyed or damaged. More than 25,000 bombs were dropped on London.

Olive had a great memory for detail and the excerpt gives a bird's eye view of the Blitz. She even recalled the name of the local Air Raid Warden, Mr. Sharwood, and his 'club foot'. She served as a fire spotter, extinguishing small fires in the aftermath of incendiary bombings.

The rented family home, a worker's cottage at 206 Iverson Road, West Hampstead, was 'bombed out' on three occasions.

My mother worked at a local photographic studio called Dron's during the War. She recalls the horror of seeing photographs at Dron's of corpses laid out at the Finchley Road Swimming Baths.

The interview is a rich historical source and includes her experience of being 'followed' by a V1 pilotless flying bomb. The V1s were known colloquially as 'Doodlebugs'.

She covers a wide range of aspects of life under War conditions in a working class community: air raids, wardens, shelters, fire spotting, evacuations, black outs, gas masks, fears, pets, coping mechanisms, civil defence, NARPAC... and the spirit of never giving up.

Olive migrated to Melbourne, Australia, with her Maltese husband, Loreto, and their three year old son, yours truly, in 1954. She always called England home - usually adding 'but I'm an Aussie now'.

She died in Australia in 2003.

Видео Memories of the London Blitz, World War Two, Olive York (1916-2003) interviewed by Barry York 1992 канала Barry York