Thursday
Wayne wrote nothing in his Journal for this day.
In England, Verne wrote in his diary:
01-04-45
Up at ten a.m. this a.m. and found out a three day pass was waiting. Set out for London at 1 p.m. Arrived there at four p.m. V-2 rocket exploded a mile away as I stepped out of the station. Got a bed at the Hans Crescent Club at Knightsbridge Red Cross.2 Danced twice.
London about 90 miles from Station 153, about three hours by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) whose trains ran close to schedule.2 Kings Cross Station at the junction of Euston Road and York Way was a London terminus for the LNER.
On January 4, 1945 at 4:07 p.m., a V-2 impacted near the Dalston Library on Forest Road in Hackney. The rocket had been fired from either Loosduinen or from Scheveningse Bosjes in The Netherlands.3 The library, a workshop and nine other properties were demolished, 15 people were killed, and 27 seriously injured. Many of the dead were children who were in the library after school.4
Notes & Commentary
1 United States and Albert E. Milliken. The story of the 390th Bombardment Group (H). [New York]: Priv. Print., 1947. p. 285.
2 The Hans Crescent Club was a Knightsbridge hotel, the Hans Crescent Hotel, that was leased by the American Red Cross during World War II. Beds as well as meals and entertainment were available there for G.I.s visiting London.
3 “Timeline for V-2 attacks, 1944-45”, V2ROCKET.COM. (http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/timeline.html : accessed 30 December 2014).
4 “Dalston Library V2 strike – Jan 1945.” silentcacophony.co.uk. (http://www.silentcacophony.co.uk/#!Dalston-Library-V2-strike-Jan-1945/c1rme/BCF28C56-8B3A-46A8-A1EB-8274093D8DEC : accessed 30 December 1945)
Wayne's Journal 