Peter lived in Herschel Road, and remembers when just before D Day the roads from Western Road to the Marine Parade were crammed with army lorries, Bren gun carriers and Jeeps. Troops were billeted in most of the houses. In the Old Town, by the spur road off Belton Way were several tanks and 3.7 mobile anti aircraft guns. Bombers making their way to London at night were guided by the river which was littered with fallen shrapnel.
Belfairs permanently housed 3.7 ant aircraft guns manned by ATS and Army personnel The gun’s presence resulted in many broken windows and shattered greenhouses and cloches. Enemy fire was not very accurate on the whole but the psychological effect was quite powerful. Fear of the next attack was very disturbing. In Belfairs, where the children’s playground now is, many of the trees were cut down and guns were mounted. There were Nissan huts on either side of the path, housing army personnel. Peter’s mother wanted to do something to help with the war effort so she enrolled at St. Margaret’s Church, as a volunteer. She was given a small green GPO van, with a ladder long enough to reach the bottom rungs of telegraph poles attached to the side. This was loaded with a tea urn and a supply of cakes. When they arrived at the site the squaddies crowded round. Peter’s mother and Grace Myers drove the van although neither had a licence. Grace hadn’t mastered the art of reversing so she shouted out of the window
“Serge, could you ‘elp me turn round I can’t reverse.”
Four soldiers lifted the van, turned it round and lifted the wheels off the ground. When Grace tried to drive off, the urn and buns shot out of the back of the van. Poor Grace.
Peter’s father did fire watching after work, he was stationed on the pier. His job was to plot the enemy aircraft and mine laying convoys in the estuary. One night he reported he had heard enemy aircraft round North Foreland, starting a full scale alert. There were several red faces when it was found to be two of Johnson and Jago’s engines doing a power test.
Peter’s father witnessed the breaking of the Montgomery. The ship came over from America loaded with ammunition to supply the troops. Not being allowed to berth in the Medway they found anchorage near a sandbank off Shoebury. A storm was forecast and the stevedores who were to offload the cargo demanded to be taken ashore, forgetting to secure the hatches. When the storm came the sea swept into the hold. The weight of the water and the cargo caused the vessel to settle on the sand bank and break her back. The Americans declared they had raised and scrapped her.
