Geoffrey Turner

Recollections of growing up in wartime Greenwich

Geoffrey pictured next to the family's Anderson shelter.

Geoffrey Turner

Geoffrey Turner spent the majority of the war in Greenwich where he lived with his parents and his older brother. The risk of bombing was severe in the area and as both his mother and father were deaf, Geoffrey and his brother had to warn their parents of air raid warnings and other dangers. Geoffrey recalls that on one occasion a parachute bomb landed near the family’s house. The blast of the bomb blew in the back window and as a result of flying glass from the blast Geoffrey’s mother suffered head wounds.

Initially the family sheltered inside under the stairs or a table but eventually ‘my father dug out a pit and erected an Anderson Shelter, then covered it with earth, four wooden bunks, quite smelly & damp, but safer’. Occasionally Geoffrey accompanied his grandmother to a public shelter in Greenwich Park protected by barrage balloons.

Although the war ended in 1945, remnants of war were part of life for many years after. Geoffrey recalls ‘We played in the derelict buildings for years, dangerous but fun. The scrap metal merchant's yards by the river were full of rats and machine gun belts, some live ammunition’.

To read more about Geoffrey's wartime experiences in his own words please press the below link.

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Early Memories Aged 0-5 (6k)
To read more about Geoffrey's wartime experiences in his own words please press the above link.