大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mr Leslie Arthur Houlton and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Houlton fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Firstly, I was born at number 15 Castle Street. My family moved for a short time to 167 Burton Road which used to be next door to the Wagon & Horses pub. While we were there, my father was on fire watch the night that the plane hit St. Matthias church. The pilot hit the railings of the field next to Whitton's playing field, he bent the railings and dented the pavement on Yarborough Road. When the plane crashed tracers and other ammunition was exploding for most of the night until it was brought under control. My grandparents lived at number 15 Castle and opposite their house used to be an air raid shelter, but they didn't like using it, they would come to our house every night and sleep under the table shelter. That is where my grandmother died. At the top of Kingsley Street and Turner Street there used to be big blocks of brick and concrete which reduced access, I am not exactly sure of the purpose of these, probably it was some sort of protection for the barracks.

Myself and oter boys used to plat on the pits which were near to St. George's Hospital. There were servicemen at the hospital who all wore what looked like striped pyjamas and blue berets. They used to give us sweets, chocolates, gum and cigarettes. We used to take potatoes and drink, we used to make a fire and cook the potatoes in the ashes, they were as black as the ace of spades, but we still ate them. The men from the hospital used to sit and talk with us and we used to walk round the pits with them.

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