They danced through the bombs

Wednesday Oct 9th , 1940
Dolphin

Still shaking after Charing Cross incident yesterday. Almost bought it. Shouldn't be alive. Bomb crashed through glass dome on District Line platform and fell on line one minute after a train full of office workers pulled away, sixty seconds before and they'd all be dead. Noise terrifying. Blast travelled up the platform and whacked the other side of platform. That spared me. Why?

Memory not working right. Ended up on ground but can’t think if blast threw me there or if I went on my own. Blood everywhere, splattered on the floor and walls and people’s faces. So much confusion with everyone running about and screaming, not knowing where to go, what to do. And the apples? Couldn’t think why big red apples were rolling though blood and debris.

Got out of there, but don’t ask how. Can’t remember. Terrific mess on top with smoke and fire brigades clanking and people stumbling about and crying. Wanted to find other side of platform to help with rescue but my head was spinning and couldn’t see which way to go. Everything in the wrong place. Saw walking wounded coming up with bloodied blank faces, looking around like bone stupid fools wondering which way to go. Head felt light. Sat down and saw blood mixed in with dirt on my arm. Clothes covered in dust and dirt. Man came over and asked if I was OK. I snapped at him and said of course, I’m an ambulance girl. Man gave me a queer look. I must have been a sight.

Don’t know how long I stayed. Wasn’t much use just sitting there like big lump but couldn’t move. Just watched it through the smoke and racket. Couldn't make any sense of it. Should've been helping but couldn't. Just sat there.

Saw LAAS girls from Station 34 taking wounded on stretchers. Good carrying technique. Good table tennis players too, I hear.

They were still bringing up stretchers when I got up and started walking. Didn't know where I was going, just walked until I found a tube station. Felt much better inside. No debris or broken glass. Everything was like before. Normal. Found my way back to Denbigh and cleaned out big gash in arm and put bandage on. Told Perkins it was motor maintenance injury. She didn’t ask any more.

Thursday 10th, 1940 Dolphin

Stripped DXP today! Hutch knows engines. Trick is this: keep track of nuts and bolts so you can get the thing back together again. Heavy Rescue boys came down to garage and found us under bonnet of DXP. Said we'd never get the motor started again. Hutch whispered to keep quiet. She wanted to enjoy this. When we finished, she gave me the keys and the thing turned over on the first go. Rankin and Miller applauded but the rest stomped off. Hutch shouted after them that she can strip an engine and put it back together faster than any of them. That’s her FANY training talking.

Later…

Hutch has tickets for Billy Cotton and his Orchestra at Paramount Dance Hall on Saturday and has invited me to go!

Friday 11th
Dolphin

Beat LCC regulars in table tennis. Pickering brilliant partner, spot on every shot. LCC regs. v. good. They worked Charing X incident. Word is eight or nine killed, fifty injured. Regs aren't meant to discuss and you never read details in papers. Didn't mention I was there.

Saturday 12th '40
Chelsea

In Hutch's lounge now with Billy Cotton music swirling in head. Everyone sleeping, but I can't. My head is thick with gin and Hutch's father's posh cognac. Drank two bottles when we got back. I’m drunk and this is a scrawl. What would Perkins think? Me drunk!

Later
Bombs going off in head now. No bombs outside, just in head.

Later

See blue in sky. Can’t sleep. Why? Isn’t sleep easy for drunks? Maybe for everyone else. Hutch and FANYs went to bed ages ago. Miller was out before he sat down in the chair. And Rankin’s over there snoring like an old farm tractor. Said he left his wife and children home tonight. They think he’s on duty. Hope they didn't have raid tonight.

Later

So, I should write down as much as I can about Billy Cotton so I’ll remember it always. You had to see this dance floor at the Paramount. Huge and packed with smart uniforms and pretty gowns sitting at tables around the edges. Hutch ordered gin and tonics one after another and we drank them straight down. Hutch thinks you need at least three to get up and dance. I never needed three to get up with Leonard the Limp in the Village Hall in Somerset. Polio knocked all the rhythm out of poor Leonard but he had fun. Hutch says to forget Somerset. The Paramount isn't Somerset.

Place dirty with uniforms, mostly RAF but also Holland, Poland, Canada. Plenty of girls, Wrens, ATS, WAAF, VAD nurses and a table of American Ambulance girls. Wish LAAS had uniforms.

Hutch’s shot over to FANY friends as soon as they walked through the door. The FANYs so glamorous. Hutch so over the moon to see them that she kissed one girl right on the lips for a very long time. Must be new fashion in London, girls kissing girls on lips. They don’t do that Somerset.

FANY girls used to drive ambulances but with more LAAS stations open, more FANYs going to special unit to work as as coders and wireless operators. Didn’t talk much about work though, and no one said why Hutch was dismissed, but you could see she was dearly missed.

Crowd when absolutely mad and crowded on floor when Billy Cotton came to the stage and started with Somebody Stole My Gal. He played straight through sirens, ack ack fire and bombs outside and everyone danced right along with him. Jerry could go to hell as far as we were concerned. We were having fun and if he got us, he'd get us having a good time!

Rankin and Miller were drunk when they arrived and both wanted to dance. Miller useless but Rankin could some foxtrot. Kept me on the floor with him most of the night and when a song ended Hutch came running over with more gin. I drank as much as I could before Rankin grabbed it from my hand and finished it. Rankin thinks dancing's the only way to get through bloody Blitz and says everyone in London should be made to go out and dance at least once a week.

Didn’t want Billy to go at the end. No one did. People stayed on the floor and shouted for him to come back until lights came on in hall. ARPs chased us out.