大象传媒

Things that went bump in the night

My father had built a concrete air-raid shelter in our back garden in Vicarage Farm Road, Heston and when the air-raids were at their busiest we, that is my parents, my younger brother and myself, would spend whole evenings and night-times sleeping in the shelter.

During the night I would wake up and listen to the commotion outside, the local anti-aircraft guns shaking the ground as they fired, the shrapnel falling on the roofs, the odd tiles sliding off the roof and crashing to the ground, glass breaking and of course the sound of the bombs falling and exploding. Occasionally there was additional excitement as incendiary bombs fell and Dad, along with the other men, set forth to tackle them. My brother David and I were under strict instructions to stay-put in the shelter and were not permitted to join in the 鈥渇un鈥� of putting them out!

One particular night, during a fairly heavy raid, I was awake and, added to the usual sounds, there was a very distinct 鈥渢hud鈥� of something that sounded different that had landed close to us. The following morning David and I were off to school and going down the garden to collect our bikes from the shed but I was more interested in searching around the garden to find the cause of the unusual 鈥渢hud鈥�, that I had heard during the night. Mum was insisting, however, that I should stop wasting my time and get off to school. She then went back indoors.

Not easily being put off I continued my search, out of her sight, and discovered a strange looking canister hidden just over the fence in our neighbour鈥檚 garden. It had all the makings of being one of the 鈥渁nti-personnel mines鈥� that the Germans were dropping to cause injuries to unwary people who might pick them up. Feeling a very self-confident 12 year old, I reported my find to the local Air-raid Warden鈥檚 post and then rapidly made my way to school to avoid being marked late.

Suddenly my Mother realised that our back-garden was being trampled over by Air-raid Wardens, policemen and various other emergency services. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on?鈥� she said to the nearest available stranger, who told her, in no uncertain terms, to get out of the house quickly as an unexploded bomb had been found in the garden. Later that morning, she saw one of the Bomb Disposal Squad carrying the device out to a vehicle, which was quickly driven away. Speaking to the man who carried the device out, she asked him what would have happened if it had gone off while he was carrying it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 alright Missus, I鈥檓 right handed, so I carried it out in my left one.鈥� he said!

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