Blackouts and Bombing Raids

Heroes Remember

Blackouts and Bombing Raids

Transcript

One night I was working late, I was alone on the fourth floor of No. 20 Lincoln’s Inn Fields and it was a London fog, a dense London fog with a blackout, couldn’t see a thing. A London fog was not like a Vancouver fog which was pure white and clean. Because of the coal burned it was a dirty situation. We were visiting a station and the building was strafed, there was the V-1's and the V-2's and then the regular bombing raids. You can imagine with the bombs coming over, the heavy explosive bombs and the incendiaries, so there were fires all around where I was living and we did have a heavy explosive bomb land in the back garden but it was a dud, it didn’t go off, had it gone off I wouldn’t be talking to you today.

Description

Ms. Lavallee tells us about experiencing the blackouts and bombing raids while living in London and a close call she encountered at her living quarters.

Olga Lavallee

Ms. Lavallee was born in 1921 in North Vancouver, British Columbia. From her childhood, she was fascinated with airplanes. At age 21, much to her parents chagrin, Ms. Lavallee joined the Air Force. After training, Ms. Lavallee accepted the opportunity to go overseas and travelled to England onboard the Mauritania. She lived and worked in London in the administration field. During her social time, Ms. Lavallee cared for the many burn victims of East Grinstead hospital in England providing comfort and consolement to the wounded soldiers. After discharge, she returned to Vancouver. Ms. Lavallee holds great pride for her service to Canada and is an active member of the association for Women Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

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