大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jane Cave for Three Counties Action on behalf of John Ross-Barnard and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

It may have been '44 on a very hot July night that a bomb was dropped on Yarborough Road, Southsea. The following morning it having been declared safe, the bomb disposal people came to dig it out of the road - they worked on it for several hours throughout the heat of the day and in the middle of the afternoon the foreman came to ask my grandmother for some water for the men. It was a team of 4. My grandmother urged them and then begged them to take a break from the unusually hot weather and have a cup of tea instead. The foreman declined her obvious kindness and insisted on taking water only. My grandmother put 4 glasses (she could recall they were Jacobean popular at the time, moulded of course) on a tray and as she walked from the kitchen down the hallway to the front door she opened the doorway and walked out into the short garden. The workmen waved their thanks to her. She closed the door walked back to the kitchen to check on her grandson and the back garden - at which point there was an enormous explosion. She was saved but all 4 men in the UXBT team were killed instantly and a boy riding past on his bicycle was blown on to the roof of the house across the road and was not discovered for 3 days.

The house was compulsorily purchased by Portsmouth City Council and my grandparents given a derisory amount as was the custom. For many years after the repair they served as council offices for coucil employees. All my grandparents money was tied up in the house, they having returned from New Zealand to do their bit and like many others they lost everything except their lives.

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