America came into the war in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. By 1942 we began to see a few Americans. They were mostly outside of the city and up North. The American airmen flew bombing raids on Germany. They flew from the Midlands. The British pilots flew at night. So it was a constant attack day and night. Biggin Hill Airport turned into a fighter plane base where they took off to attack German bombers. They shot lots of planes down. Biggin Hill in Kent became very famous. At that time there was an air of excitement about the war. I was too young, but lots of girls dated Americans – they seemed rich and of course had an accent.
My father got sick and died when I was fourteen and a half. It was quite a shock for my mother and I. We felt so alone. I remember coming downstairs pinching myself and saying, “I am real and one day I will die.” I’m sure the Lord was speaking to me. It had been a bad year. My father’s sister Nellie’s son had been killed on the beaches of Italy. His second name was Archibald. Then my grandfather died in October 1943. Then my dad, who was only 49, died in November.
Olive’s father, seated on the right
My mother took a flat near where she worked at a cable factory. I was already working then at a grocery store. I left school at fourteen. When I think about that now, I’m amazed – I was just a little girl about 95 pounds in weight. I worked six days a week, and I earned one pound and six pence – probably five dollars a week. I gave it all to my mother and had two shillings and six pence back for myself.
Olive’s mother
We moved into the flat in December 1943. It was quite nice and cozy. The only bad thing was, as we were moving I was carrying one end of a long carpet, and the woman from downstairs ran up and said “I thought you were the undertaker.” I was right by the next door flat. She spoke in whispers and said the man next door had just committed suicide that day. I dropped the carpet and ran to my mother and pleaded with her not to move in.
Once we had settled in it was much better for both of us for work. There was a deep communal shelter way below the ground. About thirty-five people used to sleep down there every night. They had rows of three bunks. My mum slept on the bottom. I was in the middle, and the boy upstairs slept on the top. He made a slit in his bunk and would drop little bits and pieces on me. He thought it was great fun. We really had a much better nights sleep down there because we felt safe. There was a boy who worked at the same store as I did. He was about sixteen. He was an air raid warden and his job was to check lights and things at night. When I got to work the next day he would tease me and say to all the other boys “She was fast asleep with all her curlers in and her mouth was wide open.” I was embarrassed.
A deep community shelter in Clapham South, 1944, similar to what Olive slept in
There was no time for going out, but across the road were the Robinsons. They had a boy called Charley and his friend was Harry Spouse. Next door was a girl about my age and we would hang around the boys tormenting them, like throwing privet leaves at them. My mum would let all four of us come into our flat and play card games and Monopoly, probably for an hour or two before raids. Little did I know then that I would marry Harry Spouse.
Harry, seated in the center in the dark jacket