On 2.40 pm on Sunday 30th May 1943, St Marychurch Parish Church was bombed by a German plane. This happened just as the children were gathering for Sunday School. Most of the girls were inside the church, whilst the boys were playing outside. The church was almost totally destroyed. It resulted in the deaths of 24 people- 21 children & three adults. 8 of the girls killed were from the Erskine Home on Babbacombe Downs and one of the adults was a Church Army sister from the same place. It took 48 hours to recover all the bodies from the wreckage. A memorial to all the children killed is in the Torquay Cemetery. Among the dead was Gerald Babbage, aged 9.