大象传媒

On two or three nights during 1941 the air raids paused in the early hours of the morning. On the night we were bombed out the sirens first went at ten minutes past seven in the evening, the raid continued until a 20 minute all clear at about twelve thirty.

The first part of the raid was mostly fire bombs, punctuated by explosives every few minutes, increasing in volume right up to the all-clear sound. We picked our way back through the house, stepping on broken glass from the roof light that had been hit by shrapnel, thinking we would soon be able to go to bed.

The second siren warning went just before one o鈥檆lock and we returned to the Anderson shelter in the back garden, settling down for another spell of lack of sleep and increased noise. It is true that you don鈥檛 hear the one that hits you. We knew the bomb was close about half a second before the bang. Dirt and plants came blasting in through the doorway of the shelter. I received a mouthful of dirt and a small cut probably from a stone. My mother and grandmother were unhurt but quite shocked. My father was in the house and was blown up to the ceiling! He left a footmark on the ceiling but otherwise was unhurt.

The house was badly damaged, the bomb hit two doors away, three houses were completely destroyed, the next door house and ours was not safe so we moved in with relations and we never went back there again.

Ron Hicks Aged 10

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