大象传媒

My mother and father worked in London during the war, my father being in a reserved occupation. My mother remembers being in bed in Ealing one night during one of the many air raids. As usual they could hear the bombs exploding and the shrapnel falling. On this particular night however, my mum remembers hearing a stick of bombs landing and getting nearer and nearer. Eventually they got so close that they thought the next one would hit them and they just pulled the sheet over their heads and waited. The bomb did indeed explode in the street outside and the doors and windows of their house were blown in, but they survived.
They were starting to clear up the mess when a policeman came along and told them that they would have to go to the nearest air raid shelter as there were unexploded bombs in the area. Whilst they were waiting in the shelter my mum remembers that a local grocer from whom they used to buy their groceries popped his head in to see if there was anyone he knew there. When he saw my mum and dad, he said "Come on, you are not stopping here, you can stay with me". They remember his kindness.
The next morning they tried to return to the house to get some clothes to go to work in and found a barrier at the end of the street manned by a policeman. When they explained that they needed a change of clothes he let them through but told them to be quick! When they got back to the house, to their surprise they found their neighbours still there, in the garden happily chopping wood. When they were told about the UXB they were very surprised and frightened. My mum says they went off rapidly, and they never saw them again!

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