大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Plymouth Library Services on behalf of Joan Margaret Beard (nee Fourte). The author fully understands the terms and conditions of the website.

I was one of twelve children, and my family lived in St Budeaux in Plymouth during the war.

Because we had such a large family, my dad built an air raid shelter for us. He built some bunks in the shelter for the younger children.

During one air raid my mum went into labour, and my dad's Aunt Ethel came to look after the younger children. We had a nickname for her, we called her "Auntie Headache" because she always had headaches.

During the air raid she once again had a headache, and so decided to rest on one of the bunks.

After the raid, we discovered that she had got jammed in the bunk and couldn't get out. We had to wait for my dad to come home from work to dismantle the bunk to get her out.

We couldn't stop laughing for days. Auntie Ethel never came back to babysit again.

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