大象传媒

A Child鈥檚 War Memories

Mine is the last generation to remember the last war,
And I hope to God war will happen no more,
I remember it well through a child鈥檚 eyes,
Where most of the damage inflicted came from the skies.
The air raid siren would begin to wail,
Moaning up and down, anticipation did not fail.
The dull thud of the guns from our artillery,
With searchlights blazing for the planes they could see.
The drone of the bombers going to, I know not where,
All I could do was to stand and stare.
German fighter planes for the bombers to guard,
Were intercepted by the RAF. They had to fight hard.
There were hundreds of planes fighting each other,
Nowhere to hide, or to run for cover.
Planes being shot down and crashing to earth,
I wondered the value, what it was worth.
Then came the whistle as the bombs descended,
A huge explosion, flames as their journey ended.
The sound of the planes diminished as some returned home,
Then the sirens, all clear again, would wail and moan.
Venturing out next day to a sunny morn,
Meeting neighbours looking sad and forlorn.
Not knowing where to go, walking aimlessly about,
I did hear later that they had been bombed out.
Their house is rubble, their possessions all gone,
But I鈥檓 only a kid, and the sun, it still shone.
I collected shrapnel, and odd bits of shell,
From the air raid last night, to the ground it all fell.
I remember the day when a Barrage balloon,
Had been shot down, it was bigger than the moon.
It was so large, getting bigger as it came down,
So I ran indoors, to the protection of mum.
I don鈥檛 know what became of it,
I was so frightened, I could have had a fit.
I remember well the Doodlebug bomb,
The Germans sent them from France, that鈥檚 where they came from.
It鈥檚 engines dulcet drone would start to splutter,
Then total silence, all our hearts all a flutter.
Ten seconds later a terrible explosion,
鈥淭hank God it wasn鈥檛 us鈥� was said, with emotion.
Birds stopped singing, a dog starts to bark,
With a bit of luck it might have crashed in the park.
Our garden backed onto a railway line,
Us kids used to watch the trains, that was fine.
Then one day a train carrying lots of troops,
Passed by, they were all waving out of the windows in groups.
We waved and cheered as the train trundled by,
We were happy, our brave soldiers had come home, that鈥檚 why.
VE and VJ days, everyone鈥檚 jolly and hearty,
When neighbours and friends have a street party.
They all brought out dining tables and chairs,
It didn鈥檛 matter to us kids which was ours and which was theirs.
We had a loudspeaker and a microphone thing,
Where people could get up to dance or sing.
When it was evening and turned into night,
A great big bonfire, the dads had to light.
Lots of dancing, bunting and waving flags,
Made us forget the war and all of it鈥檚 snags.
All these memories I have to relate,
Was when the war ended, I was a boy aged eight.

(C)Brian K Fenton 1995

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.