Blitz Kids (65 page)

Albert Riddle (photographed in 2010). Albert joined the Royal Navy aged fifteen. He served on HMS
Prince of Wales
during the pursuit of the
Bismarck
. In 1941, aged seventeen, he narrowly escaped from the
Prince of Wales
when she sank. He was also fortunate enough to escape capture by the Japanese when Singapore fell a few months later.

After retiring from the Royal Navy, he became a farmer in Cornwall and devoted many years to his role as Chairman of the Royal Cornwall Show, living on the showgrounds at Wadebridge in Cornwall.

Alf Morris (photographed in 2009) at the entrance to Bethnal Green tube station where 171 people were crushed to death in 1943. Alf was pulled alive from the bottom of the stairs.

For many years he refused to talk about the tragedy. He eventually decided to confront the painful memories and dedicated himself to raising funds for a permanent memorial to the dead through a charity, ‘Stairway to Heaven’.

Jean Redman (photographed 2010). Aged fourteen, she left school to work in her local town hall, helping find homes for evacuees. Many of the evacuees were only just younger than her. She wanted to serve in the military, but at the age of sixteen she realised her her parents would refuse permission. As a result, she volunteered for the Land Army and spent the rest of the war on a farm. After the war she resumed the career path that war had interrupted and trained to be a teacher.

The author believes that Jean was one of the staff who organised for an evacuee family to move in with his mother’s family.

Bill Ellis (photographed in 2010). Bill joined the Merchant Navy aged sixteen after being rejected by both the army and the Royal Navy. He experienced the full horrors of war whilst serving on a hospital ship in the Mediterranean. After retiring from the Merchant Navy, he became a butcher in Somerset.