大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Elizabeth Perez of Stockport Libraries on behalf of "Jerry". It has been added to the site with his permission and he fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

It was a spring evening in 1941, I was standing at the back door with my Father when three german planes approached, at about three thousand feet flying straight with anti-aircraft fire nowhere near them. My Father said they were "Heinkels" and I said no they were "Ju88s" and explained about the wing shape. At which point one of them dropped a bomb. I dived indoors and laid flat as it whistled all the way down. It atually drooped a mile away but it was rather frightening all the same.

Then there was a night raid later that year, the night raids were almost continuous all night so you could hear planes coming all the time. I heard a stick of bombs approaching and I was poistioned five and a half in a stick of six. After the fifth explosion I was sure the next one was mine, but it went over.

Christmas Eve 1944, the siren went in the middle of the night. We were very worried since we had had no raids for two years. After an hour the "All Clear" sounded and subsequently we learned that German bombers had dropped V1 "Doodlebugs" off the East Coast. None had got as far as Birkenhead. But when I moved to Bramhall over twenty years I learned that the one that got furthest had dropped in Adswood on Garners Lane. Our house has cracks in the ceiling from it!

Early 1945, cycling home from school for lunch the siren went. I could hear a plane overhead, but I knew from the sound that it was an American "flying fortress" so I wasn't worried. After about an hour it went away and the "All Clear" sounded. We learned the following day it had a full bomb load and the crew had bailed out over East Anglia, after which it flew unmanned as far as Birkenhead and then circled. They couldn't shoot it down until it eventually went out to sea.

When I was about fourteen, I was a Home Guard messenger delivering messages from the HQ to individual members.

I was very interested in ships and used to go frequently on the overhead railway in Liverpool to view ships in dock. For example the battleship "HMS Barham" with a huge hole in her side from a torpedo and the aircraft carrier "HMS Indomitable" heavily damaged after a Malta Convoy with flight deck totally mangled. I eventually went into the Royal Navy.

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