大象传媒

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I was years old at the outbreak of war, living with my family (my parents and sister) in a semi-detached house, part of a new development we had moved to in 1938.

During the war when I was about 8 years old, very early one Sunday morning we were awakened by a member of the Civil Defence banging loudly on our front door. We were told that an unexploded parachute mine had landed in the next street and we had to evacuate out home urgently. We got out of bed and dressed hurriedly. My mother wrapped up the Sunday jo9int, a half shoulder of lamb, very precious as the weekly meat ration was then about 1s 2d (equivalent to 6p today) per head and we went to seek refuge at the home of my uncle and aunt about five miles away.

Whilst we were there a bomb disposal squad attempted to deal with the mine. They were trying to move it by means of a long rope into a position where they could remove the detonator when, at around 1 pm, the mine exploded. We heard the explosion from our refuge five miles away. Two or three houses were completely destroyed and many damaged. A few roof tiles were dislodged on our home but we were able to return home.

All through that day I had experienced difficulty walking and when I undressed for bed that night I discovered why. In my haste to get away in the morning when not fully awake, I had put both my legs down one leg of my underpants!

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