大象传媒

This Story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

Allotments on a glorious autumn afternoon. Bonfire smoke curls lazily skyward while an elderly man "digs for victory", glimpsed by a small child through a tall hedge of purple Michaelmas daisies.

I overhear Father (a Home Guard Officer) telling Mother about a very special inspection next day and demand to be taken along. Mother and I join other women and children outside the barracks. How we cheer as the officers emerge, in their midst a small, sharp-featured man with a neat moustache, wearing beret and battle dress. He pauses to say "thank you for coming to see me" before speeding off to give a short pep-talk to the boys of nearby Manchester Grammar School; just part of an action-packed schedule - for this was Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein!

Playing on the floor of our top-floor flat, I hear a dull droning and look up to see a long dark object pass the window. Soon after, this flying bomb cuts out over the nearby suburb of Didsbury.

Mother and I are summoned to the window by approaching cheers and hooting from the main road below. Crowds fill the pavement, a slow parade of vehicles the road. On, on they go towards the city centre, while we too rejoice - that at last the war is over.

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