THE Town Crest flag in the High Street will be flown at half-mast on 9 July to mark the 71st anniversary of the Whitehall Bombing in which 108 local people, including many children, lost their lives in the largest single bombing casualties in Sussex during the 1939-1945 war. Two hundred and thirty five more suffered serious injuries including burns and lost limbs.
Seventy one years ago this week ten German aircraft crossed the Sussex coast at Hastings and headed for London. prompting the air raid sirens in East Grinstead to be sounded at 5.05pm.
At that time 184 people were watching a film featuring Hopalong Cassidy in the Whitehall Cinema in the London Road. A warning appeared on the screen that a German air raid was taking place but few of the audience, mostly children taking advantage of the cheap matinee, took any notice of the message.
At 5.10 PM one pilot became separated from the other planes and decided that he would find another target before he returned home. A few minutes later he saw a train entering East Grinstead station, so he circled the town twice before dropping his bombs.
One hit the Whitehall Cinema and others landed on shops in the High Street and London Road. These included A & C Bridgeland, an ironmongers, causing 500 gallons of paraffin stored in the basement to explode. The blast swept through the parade of shops, destroying Bridgeland’s and Rice Bros next door, and causing the rear of the Sainsbury’s to collapse.
