Bernard Crowhurst shares memories of VE Day celebrations in Dartford

KentOnline / KMTV

From German bombs to VE Day celebrations, Bernard Crowhurst has recollected what life was like as a young boy during Britain's deadliest conflict.

Transcript

00:00Bernard, you were just five years old when World War II began.

00:03Take me through what it was like to live in the Darrant area at that time.

00:08Well, I think I and my mates around me were very lucky in so much

00:12that we lived on the edge of Darrant Woods, and that was our playground.

00:18And obviously I witnessed right from the beginning of the war

00:23the Battle of Britain with the planes, German and Spitfire's Hurricanes

00:28swirling around the skies, shooting one another down,

00:32and I did witness what I thought at the time was a Spitfire

00:37that crashed not far from where I lived into the field.

00:41I mean, obviously we was fully aware of the havoc that was going around,

00:48and Kent, as you probably know, was always known as Bomb Alley

00:51because coming over from Germany, France and whatever,

00:55they'd come across Kent, and a lot of planes, German planes,

01:00they were all heading to London, but a lot of them dropped their bombs

01:07before getting to London and then turning round and going back.

01:11Talk to me about the day that World War II ended.

01:14Where were you when you found the news?

01:16So I lived with me grandmother in Anacleves Road in Dartford

01:21until the rest of my family came home from Cornwall, back to Darrant,

01:29and that's where I was when the war ended.

01:32And that's where I was when we celebrated VE Day,

01:38which is highlighted in my book.

01:42I mean, we had a bonfire that, well, you just couldn't describe it.

01:47We lived on the edge of the wood.

01:49We had everything we wanted to build the wood,

01:52and I mentioned that I can't imagine anyone having a bonfire bigger than ours

01:58because we had everything on our doorsteps, mums, dads, kids.

02:03We collected everything, bracken trees, sawed-down trees,

02:08and our bonfire burnt for weeks.

02:11But there was all jolly round the bonfire, singing, dancing,

02:18and doing all sorts of silly things,

02:21except one thing, which is in my book.

02:25Someone, I don't know how they got it or where they got it from,

02:31had a phosphorus, I don't know if it was a bomb, grenade,

02:36but it was a Second World War phosphorus article.

02:40But they got it from wherever,

02:43and they decided to activate it round the bonfire,

02:46which was stupid, but it happened, yeah.

02:49Well, thank you very much for sharing your story with us.

02:52There's so many things that we can look back on 80 years on.

02:54Oh, there is so many things, yeah.

02:56What would be, just to round this off,

02:57what would be the thing that you think people should be thinking about

03:00as we celebrate the sort of VE Day 80 years on?

03:03I would hope upon hope that that sort of thing never happens here.

03:09We don't want a Third World War.

03:11No way, do we?

03:13But unfortunately for myself,

03:18there's nothing I can do about it.

03:20I've got beyond that now.

03:22But no, I hope upon hope

03:25that people now and in the future

03:28never have to go through that sort of thing again.

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