- Contributed by听
- Warwickshire Libraries Heritage and Trading Standards
- People in story:听
- Penny's grandfather
- Location of story:听
- Crystal Palace, London
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4240117
- Contributed on:听
- 22 June 2005
These are extracts from letters written by Penny's grandfather to his daughter in September 1940. 'I was writing this in the nursery driven from the dining room by a warning when a terrific explosion shook the house and for half an hour we've been standing in the hall listening to the battle going on overhead. There's a blaze behind the Crystal Palace, a parachute has been reported coming down and the bombs seem to be dropping in the garden. All is quiet at the moment but no 'All Clear' yet.
Since then things have happened in rapid succession. The gas went off (so no Sunday dinner) a knock at the door and the Warden to say there's an unexploded bomb in the Churchyard and we must keep to the back of the house and expect broken windows...'
'Our adventures last week are worthy of a film and after two days' rest seem more like a nightmare. The blitzkreig and the counter-measures grew more and more intense each night. Some days we had as many as nine warnings, but we no longer took any notice of them unless the planes were overhead.'
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