大象传媒

Roy Simmons
Bombs In Barnet

The silent rocket landed in Carlton Road. The crater was so deep it damaged the sewer pipes.

I was a pupil at the local Grammer School. It was only because I was supervising detention, and missed my usual bus home that I escaped.
My mother was at work and my Dad was serving in Germany.

I remember there was an enormous blue flash, a deafening roar, and the ground shook.
I arrived home to find broken windows, collapsed ceilings and all the roof tiles missing.
What a mess!

As a National Fire Service messenger I helped air-raid wardens, soldiers and the emergency service to rescue people from underneath the rubble.
The authorities used dogs to find people that may have been buried. They usually worked in silence so that they would be able to hear feint cries for help.

The injured were treated at first-aid posts dotted around Barnet.
There was a local church hall used as an emergency shelter, fairly close to where the bomb dropped.

Like many other families we had to stay with friends whilst ours was being repaired.

I was beginning to get used to the devastation by the end of the war, by that time I was 16.

When you're a youngster you don't really take it all in, it's almost an adventure.
I can't remember ever being frightened, but I know my parents were.

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