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I was born on the 21st of February 1934 and lived in Myrtle Road, Ipswich. I attended Cliff Lane School in 1939 when it first opened, until I Was 11 years old. I then went to Landseer Road School for Boys.

Most of my early schooldays were spent in the air raid shelters, which were situated in front of the school at Cliff Lane. The sirens sounded most days, and we rushed down the shelters for safety, very scary.

I believe it was June 1944 that a bouncing bomb hit Alan Road and rebounded into Myrtle Road killing 9 — 11 people, including Mr and Mrs Brown who owned a sweet shop opposite. Bodies were laid out in the passageway of 43 Myrtle Road and, being a boy, I took a look and saw several arms and legs of people I knew. I have regretted it to this day.

We did not have time to get up the garden to the Anderson Shelter, my mother pushed my sister and I under the stairs into the pantry. This probably saved our lives, as after there was devastation everywhere, and houses flattened. Next day our photos were in the Daily Herald, trying to get our belongings. We spent 2 days and nights in Holywells Park Mansion, hen we were moved to Shakespeare Road, Whitton for a year until our houses were repaired. Then we returned to Myrtle Road and the park which we missed very much.

There were many more air raids in this area, because of the docks and ships. I could see the search lights at night, trying to pick up the German Planes criss-crossing the sky, trying to bomb the geometers and ships at the docks, and the doodlebugs with the red glow and whining noise, suddenly deadly silence, and then hitting the ground with an almighty bang.

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