A Teenager Witnessing D-Day from Glenthorne Road

---

Doris Nash was unaware how close she was to the planning of the operation

Doris Nash has written a memoir of the events of D-Day in Hammersmith. Picture: The Perth Post

Nearly 81 years ago to the day, on the morning of 6 June 1944, 13-year-old Doris Nash was at home in Hammersmith with her friend Joan when she noticed an unusually large number of planes crossing overhead and a huge amount of military vehicles coming along Glenthorne Road.

Now, 94, she says she was unaware what was happening and even more surprised to learn later on that she was just a short walk away from where the largest ever seaborn landing had been conceived. Eisenhower, Churchill, and King George VI had approved the plans for the D-Day invasion in the former St. Paul’s Boys’ School building just three weeks earlier.

Doris lives in Perth Australia and is eager to share her experiences of that world changing day and the remarkable events that took place in her life shortly afterwards.

She says in her memoirs, “I didn’t know it was D-Day at first, until we saw convoys of trucks on Glenthorne Road in Hammersmith, heading towards the coast. I was sitting on a wall with my friend Joan, watching them go by. There were miles of them, one after another, all full of troops. You couldn’t see the beginning or the end of them. They must have gone on for miles, to get them all to the coast.

“Then we saw the planes flying overhead. They were so low we could have touched them. They were only just above the houses. Their wings had strange black and white stripes we’d never seen before. These were ‘invasion stripes’, painted on at the last minute because there were so many planes in the sky that without them, the Allies might mistake their own aircraft for the enemy and open fire. It was a simple but clever way to stop friendly fire during such a massive operation.”

A current day sign in St Paul's Gardens marks the site of the planning of D-Day

She recalls hearing the peal of bells from St. Paul’s Church and the evacuation of all the students from the nearby school with the army taking over the empty classrooms which ultimately became part of Supreme Allied Headquarters for General Bernard Montgomery, a former pupil of the school.

The now demolished St. Paul's Boys' School in Hammersmith

Doris says, “The thought that such history unfolded near the church where I was christened and married still amazes me, even now.”

The joy of seeing the allied invasion unfold was tempered less than three weeks later when a shocking event marred Doris’s 14th birthday on 23 June. A German V1 “Doodlebug” flying bomb almost destroyed her family home on Glenthorne Road.

“I’ll never forget the sound of the engine cutting out overhead, counting those ten seconds, and then the explosion,” Doris recalls.

She had already learnt to distinguish the sound of the rocket’s jet engine from that of bombers and fighters. She is still scared today of the cycle of the buzz, the silence and the explosion that characterised this weapon.

She adds, “I always remember my 14th birthday. It was in June 1944, two weeks after D-Day. The Blitz had finished in 1941, but the Germans were still bombing us.

“I don’t remember that birthday because of the party. Parties were a thing of the past. After four years of war and bombing and rationing, my birthday was just a day like any other.

“I don’t remember because of the presents. I didn’t get any because no one could buy anything.

“No, I remember my 14th birthday because that’s the day a German Doodlebug flying bomb blew up right near our house. “

Doodlebugs were rockets sent over by the Germans from the continent. They were bombs with wings but no pilots which Hitler started sending a week after D-Day as revenge. When the engine of a Doodlebug stopped, it would just fall out of the sky onto whatever lay below.

Doris was unharmed as the air raid warning had sounded and she was in a shelter, which was shaken by the blast, but among the family’s lost treasures was her prized autograph from bandleader Glenn Miller, who was lost when his plane vanished six months later.

She writes in her memoirs, “After the all-clear siren, we came out of our shelter. Outside, there were fires and rubble from all the bombing. It had come down right between my future husband Sid’s street and my street. A ton of explosives had blown up right in the middle.

“When we got back to our house, all the windows had been blown out. The tape we’d put across them hadn’t done a thing. The doors were completely gone, smashed to bits. Even the plaster had been blown off the walls, leaving the bare brickwork exposed. I was so shocked to stand outside what was left of our house. I couldn’t believe it. As the dust cleared, though, I laughed a little when I saw my piano had remained unscathed. Of all the things to survive, it was the one thing no one ever played. The war spared the most unexpected things.

“We had nowhere else to turn, so we had to keep living in what was left of the house. The council—or someone—put blast cloth over the broken windows and nailed it in place. It would come off every time there was an explosion nearby, and Dad would nail it back on again. They also screwed the front door back in, and that was about the extent of the help we received. Some people came by to clear away some of the rubble, but the rule was clear: if you could still live in a bombed house, you had to stay put. There simply wasn’t another place for people to go.

“The Salvos [Salvation Army] came around with cups of tea and did anything they could to help us. Those small acts of kindness meant the world in such dark times. To this day, I always make sure to donate from my pension to the Salvos.

“The lady across the road survived the Doodlebug explosion that shattered our street. But just days later, as if fate had not finished with her, she went to work and was killed when bomb fell on her workplace.”

It was the loss of Glenn Miller’s autograph that stuck with Doris. She says, “All us kids had autograph books. I was lucky enough to have signatures from film stars like Margaret Lockwood and James Mason. I was very fond of James Mason’s autograph, especially since my maiden name was Mason too. I never did get Stewart Granger’s autograph, though. I saw him once outside the studio, all dashing as ever, but he told me to bugger off, so I never liked him after that.

“I remember the thrill of having all those names. My autograph book was cardboard-covered and only had a dozen or so pages, but to me, it was like holding a piece of the silver screen in my hands.

“Glenn Miller arrived in London in June 1944. I got his autograph when he got out of his jeep to go to the Hammersmith Palais with his band. Glenn Miller’s autograph was very special to me. “

Ironically, given Doris’s current home, it was on the day of her birthday that an Australian Spitfire pilot became the first person to tip a Doodlebug out of the sky with the wings of his plane. Kenneth Roy Collier, shot at the rocket but ran out of ammunition. Knowing the Doodlebug was guided by a gyroscope, he got his wing under the wing of the Doodlebug and flipped it over. It crashed to the ground at 8.40pm. He was the first person to do this, and dozens of pilots started doing it after that. Collier was killed in a dogfight over Germany on 5th December 1944.

Doris with some soldiers. Picture: The Perth Post

Doris concludes, “Now, all these years later, I find myself living in the sunshine of Australia. A ‘Ten Pound Pom’ who swapped ration books for gum trees, and air raid sirens for the sound of magpies in the morning. I am deeply grateful for the peace and safety I found here, for the family we built, and for the opportunity to grow old in a country where, most days, the greatest danger is sunburn.

“I carry the lessons and memories of those years with me always: the heartbreaks, the absurdities, the resilience, and the laughter.

“If my story reminds anyone that even in the darkest times there can be hope, kindness, and the odd bit of music, then I am content.”

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.