It was a day of euphoric relief for every Briton.

But for one survivor in a Dartford street where a V-1 flying bomb devastated the entire community – VE Day was simply the best day ever.

Sandra Gallop, the five-year-old girl in the sailor suit pictured below, survived after a doodlebug wreaked havoc in Carrington Road – dropping just four houses away from her home and birthplace.

Now aged 75 and living in East Sussex, she contacted the Messenger after seeing the photograph in a previous article – one of only two pictures she has seen of her and her mother together.

Mrs Gallop had never seen the photograph before, and explained how it brought back a whole range of memories of that day and of the destruction to her and others’ homes.

She said: “It was a getting together of everyone in the road and as you can see by the picture, it was a lovely day.

“People used to be so formal back then. Children were not allowed to speak unless spoken to and when you passed people in the street you would speak to them in a very formal manner.

“But I do remember that there was so much excitement on that day and any animosity had disappeared.

“I can’t remember what food was there exactly but I remember there being loads because everyone in the community pitched in. It was a delicious change to the usual powdered rations.

“I remember wanting every day to be like that day. I haven’t experienced anything like that since.”

The V-1 explosion has had a lasting impact on Mrs Gallop. “It made me realise what the word panic actually means,” she said. “I have suffered from it every since.

“I feel a cold shiver every time a fire engine goes past my home.”

When the doodlebug flew over the town there was no air raid siren warning residents of the impending destruction.

Mrs Gallop, who was four at the time, remembers the fear that struck her when it became clear what was about to happen.

“I remember a neighbour shouting ‘doodlebug!’ when he saw it swoop in.

“As we ran into the air-raid shelter the blast actually sent my sister flying – even though the shelter was actually made of solid concrete.

"When we emerged it was the silence afterwards that I remember. You could have heard a pin drop – it was most peculiar.”

“It made me realise what the word panic actually means ... I have suffered from it every since." - Sandy Gallop

A small consolation Mrs Gallop remembers was that her family’s house was intact albeit almost roofless.

Mrs Gallop’s uncle, Fred Hubbuck, was the only family member who didn’t make it down to the air-raid shelter as he was fast asleep in a bedroom upstairs.

Because he was completely deaf, he was oblivious to the bomb which was about to drop four houses away and the grave danger he was in.

When the family rushed upstairs to check if he was okay, they found him still lying in bed covered in rubble and fallen plaster from the tattered ceiling.

Mrs Gallop feared the worse. But when her father went to check on him, he rather casually said: “What’s up?”

“He had no idea anything had happened,” Mrs Gallop said. “He was absolutely fast asleep ... Everybody couldn’t stop laughing.

“Every sad story has some joy in there somewhere – and this is certainly the memory that sticks out in my mind.”