大象传媒

The year was 1941.The date 15/16April.I lived in Oxford Sreet,No34,with my parents.I was 15 years old.The sirens had sounded an alert,and the usual anti-aircraft guns started their barrage.We had an air raid shelter in the back yard,with bunks where we usually went to.After a while the all clear sounded.The public had been advised,where possible,to move beds down to the ground floor,which we had done.I then went of to bed in our front room. I must have been in bed only a few minutes,when there were two enourmous explosions.The windows blew in, the ceiling came down in parts,there was broken glass and plaster all over the room.I was fortunate as I usually slept with my head covered. My parents,who had not gone to bed were also lucky,as they were in the back of the house,in the kitchen.Though my Mother,suffered some bruising,when the door blew open. I was to learn afterwards,parachuted sea mines,not bombs,had drifted down over Ocean View. It was obvious that a lot of raids , were to mine the approaches to the River Tyne. We did not have to move out of the house, though it was quite a mess,I slept in the shelter for three months. The damage to Ocean View was extensive, there were 14 dead, and 1 in Mason Avenue. One further memory, I used to make model airplanes, which were on display on top of the sideboard.There was a Hawker Hurricane and a German Dornier, WW2. Also a Sopwith Camel RFC,together with German Fokker Triplane ,WW1. The only two not damaged,were German.

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