大象传媒

THE BOMBING OF THE HARBOUR

I suppose my first memory is actually when the Germans raided the harbour before they occupied us. I remember walking up Mill Street with my mother and my aunt and my cousin. We got to the bottom of Burnt Lane Steps and realized something was going on. I had been running ahead with my cousin who was 18 years older than me. We were playing about. Anyway, she dragged me into a doorway and covered my face, but then we walked back and there was a little shop in Mill Street near the bottom of Burnt Lane steps which sold soda pop and you could go in and have a drink. We both went in there and hid behind the counter but looking back on it I realize there were rows of glasses up above our heads so if anything had happened it wasn鈥檛 the very safest of places to be!

We didn鈥檛 really know what was happening. I wasn鈥檛 frightened, it was not knowing, we didn鈥檛 know what was happening. We realized afterwards, of course, and there were quite a few people badly injured and killed at that time. I think the Germans thought the tomato crops were armament dumps or something like that.

My father was down there at the time but luckily he was alright. He was actually on the Docks, not, you know 鈥here the lorries were unloading. That鈥檚 my first memory, but that didn鈥檛 particularly frighten me, I was just curious, really, what was it all about.
JEAN BUDDEN

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