大象传媒

At the beginning of the war I remember our village air raid warden went around all the houses that didn't have air raid shelters advising where would be the safest place to go should there be a bombing raid.

In our house he decided that the passage on the ground floor that led from the kitchen to two of our bedrooms would be the safest place for us. It was very narrow and about ten feet long with a door at either end and no windows.

The first time we woke to hear the siren we all jumped out of our beds and stood in the passage clutching our gas masks. We had nothing to sit on and didn鈥檛 think to leave the safety of the passage to get any chairs.

Although I wasn鈥檛 very old, I remember feeling that I was in charge, organising everyone to help keep them calm yet I was absolutely petrified. Anyway we stood and stood in the passage for what seemed a very long time. Nothing happened and it was all very quiet outside. Eventually one of my brothers said he was fed up and was going back to bed, and one after another we followed him.

We found out the next day that we鈥檇 slept through the first siren and it was the all clear that had woken us up.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Sue Broome of the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Kathleen Robinson (Nee Jennings) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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