大象传媒

During the Second World War, my father was a little boy growing up in East Yorkshire in the city of Hull. This is his account of the 1st time he heard the air raid siren and what it was like to grow up during the blitz. My father recalls: -

"The first school I attended was Middleton Street Infants, Spring Bank, Hull. It was at this school that I had my first experience of the war. Upon hearing the air raid warning we were taken outside and assembled in the playground, so the children would not be buried in the rubble. Ray presumed they were working on the theory that it was better to be strafed outside than bombed inside. As we stood staring skywards and spotted a plane, our patriotic response was 鈥淲e have told Hitler that we cannot be bothered with just one plane but will give him a bloody nose if he sends more aeroplanes over to England.

The infant鈥檚 section of the school must have been very enlightened in the way that I treated newcomers since I recall that every pupil had a symbol with which to identify their own lockers and, equally importantly, their own blanket. It was the custom for Class 1 to have a siesta on a little folding bed and the aforesaid blanket; incidentally my symbol was two little ducklings. Normally the beds would be set up in the classroom by the staff but when the sun was shining and of course the days were more pleasant then, the playground became our dormitory.

As soon as possible after an air raid, I, in common with other boys would go out to collect shrapnel. I recall that our scavenging was so immediate on some occasions the metal would still be warm. The most memorable and prized item I ever found was an incendiary bomb that had failed to ignite. Knowing my Mam would never let me have it in the house I unscrewed the end to which the flights were attached and emptied out the black granules before taking home the two separate pieces, which I later on the bomb was sneaked into the house reunited. This clever planning did not stop my mother giving me a good hiding when she found it!"

This account is one of a series of accounts relating to the Second World War through the eyes of my family. Warden D (re-enactor) Home Front Friends ^{About links}

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