Running for You Life

Heroes Remember

Running for You Life

Transcript

Especially when you’re out in the open and there’s no shelter around you know. The only thing you can do is just lie down and put your hands behind the back of your neck to stop the concussion of the bomb or, you know try to make yourself small, but they would come over. As I said before, as they come over the aerodromes they tried to blow up the planes so they couldn’t get off, the runways, they’d blow them up so that the planes that were up couldn’t land. When you stop to think of it. Every time an enemy aircraft would come over, they would sound out on the antennae, “Enemy aircraft in the vicinity, take cover, take cover, take cover”. Well we’d run like heck to the shelters and there’s you know several shelters. I remember the first time I heard that I got to the top step, I don’t remember going down the bottom steps. I think I must have had wings or something. So I got down to the bottom step. Several times after that, gave out, “Enemy aircraft in the vicinity, take cover, take cover, take cover”, this time I decided, “Oh heck, I’m not going to run, nothing’s happened.”, you know. Well, just because nothing happened it surely did and I ran for the third shelter. And the first shelter got a direct hit and two of my girl friends were killed.

Description

Mrs. Harvey gives us a sense of what it was like when enemy aircraft bombed nearby.

Pansey Harvey

Pansey June Harvey was born in London, England. In 1920, she came to Canada when she was four years old. When she was seventeen she enlisted and was sent to training camp two weeks later. Pansey served with the Womens Auxiliary Air Force - Royal Air Force as bomber/fighter command and in the hospital as an administrator. After the war she returned to Canada where she was married and had three daughters.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:12
Person Interviewed:: Pansey Harvey
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: England
Battle/Campaign:: Battle of Britain
Branch:: Air Force

Language selection

Running for You Life

Heroes Remember