大象传媒

My story of the Second World War happened in late 1940 when Hitler started bombing London.

Four of us neigbours decided to build a very strong shelter at the bottom of two of the gardens, which I can say is still there and now made into a rockery. I was down there on this particular night with my son, John, a baby of elevent months. It was a bright moonlit night and the German bombers were backwards and forwards bombing London and we could see the flames from our bedroom window thirty miles away in Guildford.

It was about 2.30 in the morning. I was still awake and I heard the sound of a bomb coming down. I flung myself over my baby thinking "Oh God, this is it" -- but it landed in the front garden of four houses from mine. When I came up from the shelter after the all clear sounded, four houses were completely demolished and six people were killed. It was just terrible. I shall never forget it.

I am now 92 years old and can remember many things that happened in that terrible war. Fortunately we were very lucky in Guildford and did not suffer the bombings that the big cities had to endure, but everybody helped the best they could. It is strange that you do not hear any loud explosions on the spot, only vibrations, but people hear it miles away which my daughter was surprised about when I told her.

When the Cathedral was half way built it was a perfect landmark for the German bombers. I can recall my husband and I stood at our back door watching them come over the night Coventry was so badly bombed, it was like a bus route, we were very short of defence in those days, but I am sure God was on our side.

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