大象传媒

It was the month of June 1940, very warm. The siren went in the early evening and Dorothy鈥檚 Mum, Dad and sister ran up to the Grangefield area. A farmer that they knew let them stay in a big barn. A family that lived opposite in Hyndford Street would have gone to this barn as well when the siren went. The all clear sounded so they all returned to the street.

About an hour later the siren went again so Dorothy鈥檚 family ran across the street to see if the other family were going back to the barn. They said they were going to Granny鈥檚 house in Avondale Street in the Bloomfield area instead. They had quite a big family.

It was a very clear night and the air-raid lasted a long time. Dorothy鈥檚 family returned to Hyndford Street only to hear the bad news that a bomb had destroyed an air-raid shelter in Avondale Street where the other family were and most of them were killed.

Dorothy remembers when she was only eight years old lying under a tree in the Castlereagh hills and listening to an ack-ack gun. About that time, word came that her uncle had been killed at Dunkirk, although some time later her family learned that he had been taken prisoner. There was great rejoicing at this news and because he could speak German, he was used as an interpreter.

Dorothy was sent to Katesbridge as an evacuee and the house she stayed in was very good. One day she was playing with some other children when a drunken man who was driving a car swerved to avoid them. When he swerved, the passenger door swung open and the handle went right through her arm and she was trailed along for a good distance. She had multiple injuries all over her body. A young doctor was going to remove her arm but an older doctor said he could save it, which he did. While she was recuperating, an older sister died from T.B.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.