大象传媒

In April 1941 I was 11+ years old, and we had had some experience of air raids already. It was usual at this time for the Luftwaffe to raid the docks at Newport, Cardiff, and Swansea at regular intervals. Where we lived on the outskirts we were on a ridge over a valley where the Northern Aluminium Co. had a large factory, and at intervals the raiders would fly over us and drop their bombs a little too early!
On this particular evening in April, things normal for a while, the warning had sounded and we had all gone downstairs to the "Morrison" shelter. In the early hours we could hear the sound of enemy bombers approaching, and the anti-aircraft guns were opening up. They were soon overhead, and we heard the distinctive sound of a bomb falling followed by a huge explosion, quite close. The ceiling came down, the windows had no glass, the lights went out,there was shouting and confusion. Soon the All Clear sounded and we went out to see what had happened.
The Air Raid Warden was hurrying past our gate, he told my father that the bomb had made a direct hit on the houses just up the road. My mother, in her wisdom, suggested I could be of more use helping him than getting in her way, so off I went.
The scene was a nightmare...as I suppose all bomb scenes are..the rubble of homes you knew, the smell of cordite,the shouting and the silence while waiting for the cries from the injured.
I was given the task of taking the cups of tea around to the rescue workers, which took some concentration in the dark and the rubble underfoot. I was returning for more supplies when in the flickering torchlight I saw a hand sticking up out of the rubble. I shouted for help and ran to the spot...I tugged on the hand only to find it was not attached, and came up in my grasp ! We never found the owner.
In the distance we could hear a police whistle shrilling constantly.Investigation showed it was coming from the field on the other side of the road. An elderly man was sitting up in his bed in the middle of the field, completely unharmed, complete with all his bedclothes ! He had been blown straight out of his house by the blast.
This experience has stayed with me ever since.
After the war they built the M4 through the space conveniently created by the Luftwaffe.

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