大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by CSV/大象传媒 Radio Nottingham on behalf of Gerald Humphreys with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

On May 8th 1941 Nottingham had it's only "blitz" killing 159 people. It was said to raid was primarily to bomb Boots factory producing penicillin and sulphonamides - but they got the wrong place bombing the saccharin factory in a different part of town.
A few days later my friend Dennis Birley and myself were walking home from Carlton Primary School when we saw a low flying plane approaching us head on. As avid plane spotters aged 9yrs old we firmly identified if as a Blenheim. We were disillusioned when we saw sparkles coming from the nose and furrows of dirt being thrown up around us followed by the sound of gunfire, audible over the engine noise - it was a Hienkel 111 K! The plane continued over us to a cemetery which we had just walked past and in which a family friend was being buried having been killed in the air raid. The mourners scattered behind gravestones and my mother saved herself by jumping into the empty grave. None was injured but the coffin was riddled with bullet holes.

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