Eric was born on 5 July 1920 in Hackney, London to Poland born parents Morris, a ladies tailor, and Sarah nee Ozareoff and he was one of eleven children. In 1921, the family lived at 82 Rothschild Buildings, Commercial Street in London and in 1939 they were living at 12B Gladding Terrace, Hackney where Eric was listed as working as a statistics clerk. He enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps early in the war and was based in Perthshire. He was at home on leave when he was killed alongside his parents, and sisters Marie and Nora. The family had gone to a bomb shelter at Coronation Avenue on the junction of Stoke Newington Road when a high explosive bomb hit the shelter directly killing 170 people. The BBC posted a testimony of a youngster who survived the bomb explosion.

On 13 October 1940, the shelter received a direct hit. We had settled down as usual, when there was a dull thud, a sound of falling masonry, and total darkness.

Somebody lit a torch – the entrance to the next room was completely full of rubble, as if it had been stacked by hand. Very little rubble had come into our room. Suddenly I felt my feet getting very cold, and I realised that water was covering my shoes. We were at the end of the room farthest from the exit. The water was rising, and I started to make my way to the far end, where the emergency exit was situated. Everybody seemed very calm – with no shouting or screaming. By the time I got to the far end, the water was almost up to my waist, and there was a small crowd clambering up a steel ladder in a very orderly manner. Being a little more athletic than some of them, and very scared, I clambered up the back of the ladder to the top, swung over, and came out into the open.

It was very cold and dark, and I was shivering. The air was thick with brick dust, which got into my mouth, the water was quelching in my shoes. I still dream of, and recall, the smell of that night, and the water creeping up my body. My parents and my sister came out, and we couldn’t believe the sight of the collapsed building. My brother had been out with a friend – so was not hurt, and we were all OK.

My mother, sister and I went over to number 6, and my father and brother stayed to see if they could help in any way. Some bricks had smashed the shutters in front of the shop, and had to be replaced with panel shutters, which had to be removed morning and evening. The windows were blown out, and were replaced temporarily with a type of plastic coated gauze. The next morning, we were told that only one person had survived in the other two rooms, and about 170 people had been killed.