In July 1939 the children of Dr Barnardo's for a second time were moved out. This time they would not return till 1945.

The home was turned turned over to the ministry of Health. The hospital in parts were covered with Sandbags to protect the occupants. The new occupants had come from the many central London hospitals and from the many displaced people who had been temporary housing. The photo below was taken at the start of the war.

From 1939 to 1945 Dr. Barnardo's recorded The Girls Village Home as having 16 bomb munitions land within its grounds, this includes UXBs but do not record any were V1 buzz bombes hitting the village home. Below is the information I have found out about Friday 30^th June 1944

Germany had launched its new weapon on 12th June, 1944. The first ten failed to reach the coast of England. The next day the new weapon was unleashed again against Great Britton called Vergeltungswaffe ( Vengance Weapon ) for the German war machine It was a relatively inexpensive way to deliver a high explosive 1,870 pound bomb across the English Channel without risking any of their pilots.

They were were launched from a short length catapult, they then climbed to about 3,000 feet at speeds up to 350 miles per hour, they had Approximately a range of 160 miles from the launch site. Unlike conventional German aircraft bombing raids, V-1 attacks occurred around the clock in all types of weather, striking indiscriminately, causing suspense and terror among the population of London and the surrounding area.

On Friday 30^th June 1944 Northern France from the Pas-de-Calais another wave of Vergeltungswaffes were pointed towards London, One of these flying bombs would drop to land within the grounds of the Girls Village Home hospital killing nine people, of which two were members of staff of the hospital. Records show it hit between two of the three wings the explosion was so fierce it also damaged houses outside the grounds of the Village Home.

Michael Harrington wrote I was outside in the back garden of our house in Crown Road (No. 68) with my Mother.  We heard the loud droning noise of a doodlebug overhead and then saw the flying bomb go over us towards the Village Homes.  It started going out of sight and we breathed a sigh of relief thinking that the danger was past.  Then the motor stopped and we knew that the bomb would now fall to the ground.  A few seconds later we saw that, as it fell, the V1 had changed direction and was now coming back directly towards us.  My mother picked me up and dropped me into the Anderson air-raid shelter that was close by us in the garden but didn't have time to follow me but fell flat, face down, on the garden.  There was a huge explosion and the blast took out all the windows in the house and we later discovered that it had moved the front-door, complete with frame, several inches forwards in the wall.  We were both uninjured but considerably shaken up.

The rumour amongst the neighbours was that the V1 had landed on Dr. Barnardo's boiler house and had killed the boiler man. The subsequent reports seem to suggest that this was incorrect but during the war such rumours were always repeated from one person to another for lack of concrete information.

Incidentally, the broken glass was replaced by celluloid sheeting with mesh reinforcement - I suppose that this was safer in case of future blasts!

Paddy Apling wrote he and his mother were living at 45, Hatley Avenue, Barkingside his mother recorded in her diary: 30th June 1944 "Alerts on and off all day and all night. Flying bomb on Hospital in Dr. Barnardo's. Blasted us to pieces" it blew in all our windows and removed many of the tiles from the roof which had to be covered with temporary tarpaulins.

Records show that one of nine who was killed in the explosion was 22 year old Andrew Ryan. He had left Gibralter for the safety of England and had been given temporary accommodation along with many other displaced people from all over Europe. Ryan had just been found a place within the hospital; he had been admitted for a leg wound. His mother Mrs Joaquina Ryan was getting Ryan settled in when the V1 Pulsejet motor stopped and fell to the ground.

The local Ilford recorder wrote: Information received that the VI attack on the Australasian Hospital of 30^th June 1944 Civilian Casualty of WWII, Mrs Joaquina Ryan was killed by enemy action (VI Flying Bomb) at the Australasian Hospital, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex. She was 50 and the wife of William Ryan, of 4 Cumberland Road, Gibraltar. Their son, 22 year old Andrew Ryan was also killed in the same incident. The Inquest was held at Ilford.

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Mr Paddy Apling wrote: Ilford was the site of extremely important war industries - Ilford Limited for the manufacture of special film stock - Plessey company, manufacturers of the army and air force wireless equipment, (including the 19 set on which we relied in the  tanks) among others; and Ilford also had a major railway yards.  Much of that manufacture was carried out underground in the tunnels which eventually became the post-war extension of the Central line to Hainault).

One other piece of information that came to light from Mr Apling was the fighter squadron that was near Barkingside station was a Polish fighter squadron, again we need to do some further research.

I would like to thank Mr. Geoffrey Gillon who researched most of the information above.

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