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This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Megan Morley and has been added to the website on behalf of Nora Gallop with her permission and she fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

It was the year 1942, about the end of November. I had David my eldest son with me on November 12th and had been told to get gas masks for him at the district nurse's home at Monkton Street, Ryde. I had collected it and was making my way home with the box perched on the pram. I'd got to Quarry Road when I heard planes. I looked up and saw planes, coming in low from ahead of me and one had flames at the wings. I then heard the 'tat tat' of machine guns. I grabbed David from the pram and rushed into the shop on the left, went right through and under the stairs. The siren had not gone, but there were loud bangs and then the siren went. I was there for about 5 minutes when a railway man came in and asked was there a lady with a baby here? Anyhow he said its O.K., I've stopped the pram going down the hill. I'd not put the brake on.

When the all clear sounded, I got David back in the pram and made for home. Going up Well Street, I was told that bombs had been dropped in the Weeks Road area. Knowing my husband Joe's mum was a cripple and in bed I was very worried. I went straight down to her, she was O.K. but all the windows and ceilings were damaged. Later Joe's dad found some lino and tacks and covered up the damage done due to this disaster. We cleared as much of the mess the best we could. This was caused by the bomb blast, dropped over Haylands way. I can't remember if that was when YMCA House was taken over. 'Hazlewood' was damaged and a lot of army soldiers were killed or not. I know that land mines were dropped at night which flattened the school and a lot of cottages. My friend May was killed there, that was in Church Street, later renamed St Michaels Avenue in Haylands.

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