It’s been 80 years exactly – eight long event-filled decades since Canvey Island was devastated by a German ‘Doodlebug’ bomb.
In that time nobody can say Ray Howard, who miraculously survived the blast by the skin of his teeth, hasn’t made the most of his life.
Ray, now 82 and retired, served as a town, borough and Essex County Councillor for 50 years. He worked as a school governor and sat on all sorts of other organisations, charities and groups.
For most of his adult life he says he worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
He is known as ‘Mr Canvey’ due to his dedication to serving the residents of the island and even has a road on the island named in his honour.
Like every other islander Ray was affected by the devastating 1953 flood and has battled to obtain better flood defences for Canvey ever since then.
In 2004 when he was given Freedom of the Borough of Castle Point he received a standing ovation in the packed-out council chamber that lasted for several minutes.
In 2017 he received an MBE from King Charles at Buckingham Palace for services to Canvey.
But there’s something else that Ray has that many people don’t realise – physical and mental scars from the V1 ‘Doodlebug’ bomb which obliterated Deepwater Road, Canvey on the morning of July 22, 1944.
Aftermath - A grainy photograph showing the devastation in Deepwater Road (Image: Canvey Community Archive)
A Spitfire had been chasing the German V1 flying bomb along the Thames, trying to stop it from reaching its target of London.
The usual practice was to try to upturn the pilot-less bomb and leave it to explode at sea However, on that day, an anti aircraft gun at Canvey managed to hit the the Doodlebug on the side, but instead of going down in the Thames, it veered towards Canvey, narrowly missing the Red Cow pub – now the King Canute.
It landed on two homes in Deepwater Road. One of them was ‘Drake Lodge’, the modest home of the Howard family.
Ray’s brothers Eric, eight and Peter, aged just five, perished in the blast.
Their 16-year-old cousin Betty Brace, who was delivering papers as she worked in a newsagents nearby, was also killed.
Next door neighbour Lord Edward Scott, aged 44, died too when the bomb crashed into his wooden bungalow.
The explosion wreaked absolute havoc, injuring almost 30 people and causing extensive damage to more than 150 homes and a church.
Among the injured was Ray’s mum Elizabeth, who lost the baby she was carrying. His older sister Doris was also badly hurt.
Ray’s father Charles Howard, was away serving his country fighting the Germans. To this day Ray gets emotional when he thinks of what it was like for his dad to have received the news that half his family had been wiped out.
“What could it have been like to get that news? I just can’t imagine,” said Ray.
“I have no memory of the actual day and to be honest I’m glad about that.
“I found out later that my mum and sister had survived because they were huddling under a table when the bomb came down.
“We all ended up buried under rubble.”
It was Ray, who was only two and a half, who bore the brunt of the explosion’s flying glass and shrapnel.
He was pulled out of the rubble by local nurse Ada Andrews.
Rescued Ray - Canvey’s hero nurse Ada Andrews (Image: Canvey Community Archive)
“She was a hero. She saved my life that day and helped many others,” said Ray.
He spent the next six months in Rochford Hospital and for the next seven years of his life he was in and out of the hospital undergoing countless painful procedures to have the glass removed from his face and body.
“My God it was painful,” recalled Ray.
Even to this day Ray still walks around with pieces of glass wedged so deep into his body they cannot be removed.
Remembering the attack on the 80th anniversary he said: “I feel very lucky to be alive. I always have. It was a miracle.
“All I remember is growing up constantly having glass taken out of my body.
“I have been able to survive and thank everybody that helped save my life – from the individuals on Canvey Island to the excellent nurses at Rochford Hospital.
“I think because of what happened it’s made me such a committed Christian and I grew up with a gratitude for my community that made me what to give back to them.”
He added: “We were so poor. We lost everything – our home and all our belongings. There was no such thing as insurance back then.
“I know our friends and neighbours rallied around us and helped as best they could but this was a time when nobody had anything because of the war.
“My mother scrimped to get us some food on the table and she had a hard life and a big family.
“But looking on the bright side she lived till she was 90 odd and got to see better times.”
The family were eventually housed in North Avenue and never returned to Deepwater Road.
As well as losing his two brothers and the unborn sibling his mother was carrying, Ray had personal difficulties to overcome in the aftermath of the bomb.
With the 65 stitches clearly showing on his face and body, children would tease him as he went through school.
Childhood - Ray pictured in 1946 at school. This was two years after the bombing attack and he was still riddled with glass and shrapnel injuries. He’s still smiling though. (Image: Canvey Community Archive)
He said: “It was difficult with people always pointing at my face and my injuries.
“It was always something that stood out when I was compared to any other boy the same age.
“I was bullied a lot but that’s the way kids are and have always been. I’m sure there were children who stood up for me too.”
Ray went on to campaign to save Rochford Hospital from closure. He felt he owed them so much. He also believes his public service to be something positive that came out of the trauma of his early years.
Does he ever go down the road of ‘why me?’ Does he wonder what would have happened if the Doodlebug hadn’t been shot that day and had been left to go to London?
“I suppose I’ve thought about what could have been but if it hadn’t come down here it would have just flown to London and destroyed people’s lives there.
“I’ve thought sometimes why did it hit us when so much of Canvey at the time was just field and open farmland. But it does no good to dwell too much.
“I can tell you one thing for sure. Canvey people are survivors and we look after each other.”
The island’s Bay Museum, Heritage Centre and Canvey Community Archive all have extensive records, photos and memories of the Doodlebug disaster.
There are many stories of near-misses from that day.
Val Court lived next door to Ray and his family and should have been with them at the time of the bombing.
She recalls on the Canvey Community Archive: “I remember the Doodlebug falling onto Deepwater Road. I should have been in Ray’s garden being looked after by Mrs Howard who lived next door while mum went shopping.
“I played up at the last minute and mum took me with her, hanging onto the side of my six week old brother’s pram.
“We got as far as Kitkat Road when the bomb descended.
“Mum ran all the way back to Deepwater Road. I don’t remember if she dumped me in the pram but she must have done because my five-year-old legs couldn’t have kept pace with her!
“I was left with the pram in the care of a villager while she went to see what she could salvage.
“I consider myself very fortunate that I was naughty that day, else I may not have been here today!”
Another contributor, a man named Michael, pays tribute to Betty Brace – Ray’s teenage cousin, who also lost her life.
“At the time the Doodlebug exploded my mother, grandmother and I were in the Winter Gardens. I would have been maybe four or five, he writes.
“I have fond memories of Betty as she used to give me sweet ices, (frozen lollypops, without the stick).
“In later life I asked mother about this incident. I am now in my seventies but I still remember as if yesterday.
“I missed Betty for a long time as a fine young lady. I guess I still do.”
On Sunday Ray was due to take part in a service at St Nicholas Church, in Long Road, Canvey, to remember those killed and injured by the bombing.
Today he will visit Canvey Junior School where he was a pupil as a child.
“The school children have been doing a project about the bomb and they are going to show me their work and give a presentation.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to me that the children want to learn about this and to remember the victims.
“I’m thrilled because the grand-daughter of Ada Andrews will be there too.
“Of course it’s all so personal to me because I lost family members but I think this will be the last anniversary - perhaps the last time people will commemorate this terrible event but that’s life I suppose.
“Hitler sent 9,500 Doodlebug bombs to our towns and cities during the war.
“We were just one of the places hit. These flying bombs caused so much horror and devastation.
“If we can learn anything it’s that we’ve all got to make the most of life – take it from me.”
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