大象传媒

My husband was a sniper in Germany during the war. He wanted to get into the navy but didn't manage to to so joined the army instead. There was 8 of us in the family. My brother Charlie, was in the 8th Army. I was 5 when he went in and my sister worked at the depot making bombs.We lived in Derby. I remember having to queue at Mr. Austins shop for sweets every month where we'd get our two ounces of toffee. We had to queue for everything and if it ran out we had to go without. All the mums used to share food around.

The German Prisoners of War were stationed at Sunnyhill barracks. They used to play rugby on the wreck against a team from a local factory.

When our soldiers marched to church we used to march with them. We were very proud of them.

I remember the smoke screens in the street. The soliders used to light them to camoflage all the local factories. They did drop a bomb on Derby Lane and some people got killed.I also remember being on a bus and sirens going off and we all had to get off and lie under a hedge which was very frightening. We did have a shelter in the garden which used to get full of water when it rained so mum ended up making a bed for us under the stairs.

There was a barrage ballooon at Sunnyhill wreck. It was brought down one night during a thunderstorm. Boys were hoping to get a bit of the balloon but the police wouldn't let them near it although my brothers did all collect shrapnel.

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