大象传媒

I was too young to have strong memories, I was only nine when the war ended. I lived in Bognor Regis througout the war, these are some of my strongest memories.
I remember at school one day we were told to get under our desks because there was a sudden raid. I felt perfectly safe under the desk, and liked it better than going to the shelter. It must have been a serious air raid because our mothers came to the school after the 'all clear' had been sounded.

Once when playing outside my house in Lyon Street, a German bomber flew over the house so low and so near that I could see the men inside. I thought they were looking at me! I had a book on aeroplanes, which I still have, and in it is the German bomber Heinkel 111. I feel sure this was the bomber I saw because of the large glass nose. Seeing a German plane for me was a rare occurence because I was always rushed into the shelter at the first sign of trouble. But on the above occasion there was no warning.

Another time when playing outside my house a plane came over quite high and dropped something. I remember standing there watching it fall. There were three sailors walking on the other side of the road. They ran across the road grabbed me and we all ducked down behind a wall. There was no explosion, apparently it was an auxiliary fuel tank that the plane had released too soon, as it landed 200yds from the sea.

Towards the end of the war my mother and my sister went to the end of Clarence Road Bognor Regis to watch the four engine planes towing the gliders towards Normandy. Normandy is right opposite Bognor Regis; it must have taken the gliders about half an hour to reach their drop zone once they crossed the coast line at Bognor Regis. The Gliders were all higher than the four engine planes, except one, which was lower. It must have had a problem because it dropped lots of coloured parachutes into the sea and turned back. I think little boats went out to collect the parachutes, which must have been equipment.

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