大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Mike Garofalo from Westree Learning Centre and has been added to the website on behalf of Allan Huitson. With his permission and they fully understand the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was 5 years old living in Thornaby-on-Tees, last town in North Yorkshire before crossing the Victoria Bridge into Stockton-on-Tees county Durham. The all clear had gone after an air raid, as we were walking across the bridge a German fighter aircraft strafed the bridge which prompted us to run like hell, I was scared and we ran into the nearest air raid shelter even though the all clear had been sounded. We learnt later that the aircraft mistook it for the railway bridge which was a vital link as the main line to Darlington, as this carried steel from Dorman and Longs, also ICI Billingham which produced weapons, ammunition and chemicals; there was also 3 major shipyards in the area. To this day the cannon shells are still in the bridge.

I suppose my most vivid memory of the war was the evening we were bombed out. We had returned from an air raid shelter after the all clear, I was living in Mandale Rd at the time; my mum had left me in the bedroom to make us a cup cocoa, I was looking out of the window at the time and noticed these seven lights coming down from the sky. As my mother entered the bedroom there was an almighty crash, she grabbed me and we fled into the wardrobe. We were inside this for some considerable time, my mother keeping the door shut by holding the mirror inside the wardrobe to the point where her fingers were bleeding. We seemed to be in there for an eternity when we heard voices, my mother opened the wardrobe door, where by an air raid warden shouted 鈥渟top where you are鈥�! He kept shouting 鈥渟top where you are, don鈥檛 move!鈥� we will get a ladder up to you as your bedroom floor has collapsed. I could not see anything as it was all blackness the only thing I could see were the air raid warden鈥檚 flashlights. Eventually the fire brigade got a ladder to us, where we were taken to Saint Paul鈥檚 church hall, where we were seen by nurse and doctors. We later found out that the seven lights falling from the sky were in fact incendiary bombs, the search lights picked out their parachutes which made it look like falling lights. We then moved to Billingham with my Grandmother until the house was repaired, which took about seven months. As a result of this air raid I suffered nightmares.

The house we lived in at Mandale Rd was on the main road and next door to us was the gas show room and across the road was a shoe shop. On returning one night from an air raid shelter, I remember seeing two men legging it down the street with a gas cooker between them after the shop window had blown in. I also saw shoes scattered across the road and remember seeing people trying shoes on to see if they fit, looking for a pair.
As a child bombed out houses used to our adventure playground and the water reservoirs used by the fire brigade to put out fires was our swimming pool!

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