大象传媒

鈥凄辞辞诲濒别产耻驳蝉鈥�

In 1944 the Germans had a new weapon which they sent to try us. It was called 鈥渁 flying bomb鈥� or 鈥渄oodlebug鈥� as it was commonly known. We would hear a horrible whining sound coming overhead; the sound would suddenly stop and silence would follow; then there would be a loud explosion. The silence was frightening because we never knew if the bomb would explode on us or on some other poor person.

On a hot day, l5th August 1944, I was wearing a yellow sundress with seaside pictures on it, which my Mum had made for me. The Air Raid Warning sounded so my sister and I went into the Anderson shelter in the cellar. My Dad, as usual, liked to watch what was happening in the sky. My Mum had gone to 292 Whitehorse Road. A 鈥渄oodlebug鈥� came over and when it stopped, my Dad, fortunately, dived into the shelter with us. There was a very loud explosion and I could see the ceiling of the cellar falling down outside the shelter. I really thought that we had been buried alive!
The bomb hadn鈥檛 fallen on our house but it had landed in Milton Avenue just behind the houses opposite. A window cleaner, who was on his ladder, the Dad of 3 little children from along the road, was killed. Because he was deaf, he hadn鈥檛 been called up for the Army like most men of his age. Although someone had shouted to him when the 鈥渄oodlebug鈥� was coming, he hadn鈥檛 heard, of course, so hadn鈥檛 been able to take shelter. It was so sad.

Cecily Tween

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