The Dead End Kids(I)

In 1939, thousands of children were evacuated from London during the Blitz, but many returned. Of those that did were 17 year old Patsie Duggan and his 13 year old sister Maureen, who started a "gang of scruffy urchins" known as "Dead End Kids" (the moniker clearly taken from the Hollywood actors) with recruits as young as 10, who had equipped themselves with an assortment of tools, buckets of sand, rope and axes. Night after night, raid after raid, they scoured the area for people in distress, with no adults to supervise them. During the Blitz they were responsible for a series of life saving missions as well as putting out small fires caused by incendiary bombs and even dragging unexploded bombs into the Thames. On one occasion a group of kids rescued 230 people from a damaged shelter and led them through the falling bombs, getting all 230 to safety. Another night they saved 30 horses from a burning building. They became known as unofficial fire-fighters across the East End throughout the remainder of the war, but received very little press coverage or public thanks except by those of whom they helped.