From September 23rd AP.
In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the long-closed Aldwych Station near Central London's Covent Garden, a refuge for thousands between September 1940 and May 1941, was reopened last weekend. It was one of the first undergrounds used as a shelter.
It has been closed for 16 years. Visitors to it will be guided by staff in period costume including one dressed as and playing the role of an air-raid warden. An original 1943 train will be parked in the station and a period bus will be parked outside the station.
Survivors of the battle were invited for a preview on the 23rd and were urged to record their memories.
Margret Clark, 78, remembers, "At first we went down for an hour or two, then we'd go home after getting the all-clear. After that it started lasting all night-- we weren't exactly sleeping, we had no bedding, we just sat, sat on the floor, sat on the benches.... My mother had a corner of the bottom of one escalator and my auntie the corner of another."
All the while, these poor people had to listen to the bombs falling and wonder whether they'd have anything left at home after it was over.
A Very hard Life Back then. --Cooter
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