大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by a volunteer on behalf of Mr. R G Radnor and has been added to the site with His permission. He fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

My Grandmother lived at 131 Wakeham Street. Grandfather was a quarryman before joining the Army. He died out in Egypt in 1917.
On August Bank Holiday Monday in 1940, I was visiting my Gran with my Mother and brother and was outside when there was the sound of an aircraft approaching, and getting louder and louder. We looked up and saw two planes come out of the clouds, followed by three more then two then three and so on.
My brother started counting he counted up to 21 when the bombs started coming down: up until then, because there had been no warning we had thought that the planes were ours. However the air raid warning went after the bombs started dropping and making a frightening sound.
We ran into the house and took shelter as it shook. It was all over very quickly. When the all clear went, I came outside and saw a man coming up Wakeham Street with a head wound, with his face covered in blood.
My Gran was very frightened by the bombing, one of the bombs dropped so close to the back door that it blew some of the slates off the back of her house. Shortly after this, she died. My mother said that it was an early death brought on by the bombing.
On another occasion I was visiting an old lady at 152 Easton Street with my father and brother. While we were there the air raid warning went and the bombs started dropping. We took shelter under the stairs and as the bombs landed, the house shook.
At this point the old lady鈥檚 faith grew stronger. She looked at me and said 鈥淲hen the bombs drop, I pray to God that they will pass over. Her prayers were answered because she died of old age at a much later date.
Later, I went from Portland to Weymouth on the bus. We went round by Brewers Quay where there were heaps of bricks and rubble. The Brewery had been hit which was really drastic.
One afternoon when I was at school in Bridport where we lived, I was sitting in the classroom during the lesson after lunch looking out of the window. As I looked, I noticed a plane banking and as I looked, a black object left the plane and I realised that it was a bomb and it dropped on Bridport.

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