大象传媒

I was seven when the war started, living with my parents; brothers and sisters in Hedge End just outside Southampton. I can remember the men in our road trying to dig holes in their gardens for air raid shelters; my dad didn鈥檛 finish ours because the hole kept filling with water.

We all slept in the living room, the children fully dressed under the dining room table, Ready to run to the neighbours when the siren sounded, who had built a really good shelter with benches and bunks.

The men always stood outside the shelter watching for planes and only came inside when the bombs got to close.

The women and children were inside the shelter and a cry could often be heard 鈥淛ack is that one of ours鈥�

We were often woken up two or three times a night to go to the shelter, when the all clear sounded and we were no longer frightened it was a great novelty for the children to be out in the street in the middle of the night.

At some stage of the war the council put four wooden pillars in each corner of our living room with steel mesh or something over the top. We guessed to stop the ceiling falling in on us, also a blast wall outside the window, which was great fun for climbing on and jumping off. (I have never heard of any one else having such a thing)

Later on the council took charge of the shelters and built us a concrete Anderson in the garden, which we slept in most nights. How my parents managed dragging mattresses about I can鈥檛 imagine, things couldn鈥檛 be left in there because it was damp and smelt musty.

At some time my parents took in a family that had been 鈥榖ombed out鈥� where everyone managed to sleep I can鈥檛 imagine as we were a family of 4 girls and our parents, also 3 brother in the services. One night during an air raid an incendiary bomb hit our house, went through the roof and landed in a large airing cupboard, In the cupboard, amongst clothing and other things was the baby鈥檚 huge gas mask, which must have ignited very quickly.

My mum, my sisters and me ran from the house terrified to try and find somewhere safe, but everything outside seemed to be on fire. We fled down the street panic stricken, praying as we ran. We were all so frightened and eventually were taken in by a kindly neighbour.


In the meantime my father had picked up the bomb and thrown it out of the landing window, which caught the curtains alight. Unfortunately the family we had taken in had been throwing their belongings out of the bedroom window. I really cannot remember the consequences of this, but maybe some of their belongings were burnt as well.

My father with the help of the neighbors eventually put out the fire by carrying buckets and saucepans full of water through the house and up the stairs we couldn鈥檛 get the fire brigade because most of the village was already on fire. I think they called the firebomb a breadbasket.

Although it was a very frightening time we children managed to enjoy ourselves, picking up shrapnel on the way to school and singing heartily in the school air raid shelter.

When it got near to D-day we were excited seeing the convoy of soldiers and vehicles along the roads. There where American Canadian and French troops. We enjoyed talking to them, they gave us sweets and gum and I had my first taste of peanut butter, I often wonder how many of those young men made it home after the war

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