大象传媒

During the warwe lived within one mile 0f the Enfield Small Arm,arms factory, which was a prime target for the german bombers,It was quite liverly at night .They came over reguarly,I used to fire watch under the canapy of the front door with a Mr Nicholes from upstairs.The bombers always came over at a great height, when one was caught in the beam of a searchlight it showed up as a silver dot.They never managed to to hit their target but just about everything round it.Near us was a railway line which had antiaircraft guns mounted on trucks they made quite a racket most times they seemed to hit the flares dropped by thebombers ,under the canapy we could hear the shrapnell hitting the roofs which we later collected later in the morning.When they first started bombing we used to go down into the andersion shelter in the garden that dad had built for us.I hated it we got up at diferent eleven pm two in the morning and again at four inallweathers we had to get out of a warm bed and go into a cold damp shelter with nothing but a nightlight for company we never got a decent nights sleep.One of the most upsetting experiances of my life during the war It happened ona a Tuesday around midday in June 1944 This experiance affected me even still to this day.
My mother handed me a ration book gave me strict instrucions to pick up a pot of strawberry jam and some cheese from Mrs Davies,s shop which was a five minute walk futher up my street.As I made my way up my street I rememberd the air raid warning had gone off earlier whilst putting on my shoes in the house which was nothing out of the norm, it was adaily occuance which had become part of our daily lives.The street was quite and I looked up at the sun beaming down whit a clear blue sky, just an odd cloud around.In those days it was a rare sight to see any enemy aircraft flying over except the regular recoasance plane a messhersmit 109 which did the daily flyover to check for any changes to the small arns factor. By then the London blitz had passed and hitler had his new deadly secret weapon to use It was known as the V1. we called it doodlebug.
the doodlebug was basically aflying bomb with wings, pilotless aroun about thrity feet in length and powered by a jet engine,launched from ramps situated along the coast of france it made its way toEngland guided by a simple gyroscope and just enough fuel so it would reach london. Once the fuel expired it would either glide its way gracefully to the ground or drop like a dead weight depending on the weather conditions.
By mid june1944 it had became a daily sight ,seeing the dreaded doodlebug pass over our skies.Wegot used to it.Wewould hear the horrible dronning sound of the jet engine as it passed over then a sudden silence as the engine stopped. The next that went through your mind is where is it goin to drop At night it was easier to tell where they were heading as the heat from the engine would light up like a cigar as it passed over knowing full well on this occasion luck was on our sideI continuied on my journe past Chesterfield Rd School I went in the shop and purchased a pot of jam and a piece of cheese,coming out of the shop I noticed that women were heading for the school to pick up their children for dinner as it was nearly noon.I started to walk along I hear the familer noise of a doodlebug approaching I thought to myself this one is close In fact it sounded very closeIt got louder and louder and seemed right on top of me I looked up but could not see it so I went into the middle of the road to get a better view The next minute I felt mysef grabbed on either side of my arms and propelled forward anfell flat on my face in a shop doorway I was dazed and went to get up The next minute there was an almighty silence I felt a huge wind lift me up in the air my face and legs felt a stinging sensation all over like a thousand needles sticking in me I did not hear any explosion I hit the ground and opened my eyes and looked around me I could not see anything there was thick smoke or dust, I felt scared I did not know which way to go I could hear women screaming in the background I was realy scared now I scrambled over the rubbleand managed to see which way to go homeThe thick smokeand dust was claearing slowly asI made my way home I coulkd see where the doodlebug had fallen, there was a big crater in the school playground a hall ajoining the playground had dissapeared across the road three houses were completly demolished people were dashing about all around me there ere small fires burning,One thing struck me was a peculier smell I dont know what it was but it made me feel frightened In fact for years afterwards every time I paased the road I could still smellit. I made my way down my road on either side all the houses had lost their windows and a lot had thier roof tiles were nissing> My home was just as bad all the windows were blown out the front door blown off its hinges. My two brothers came running to greet me, throwing questions at me were did the bomb drop,did I seeit, mum approached me are you alwright you havent lost the ration book have youI thought to myself thats all you worry about as I stood there I felt a warm trickle on the back of my neck I run my hand over it was blood I had a smallpiece of glass sticking in the back of my head mum pulled it out and put sme detol on it you willbe alwright its only a scrach.When mum hear the doodlbug approaching she got my two brothers together and went down the anderson shelter In the front room I saw huge pieces of glas sticking out of the settee just like a s though a knife thrower had thrown them luky nobody was sitting there After a while I felt sick and began to shake.Fromthat moment on every time I heardthe air raid siren I felt fear war wasd no longer an aventure.I heard later that a Miss Parnel ateacher who was sheperding children down the air raid shelter was killed, and two soldiers who were eating inthe hall was also killedMy best freind Sall Jordon was blown into a garden and suffered a large splinter of woo in her breast which was removed in hosoitol she recvered alwright afterwards>Evert time I wall past thetop of my road where it happened I could still smell that awful smell even years afterwads.

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