大象传媒

During the bombing raids on Birmingham, my Mum Emm, would take to the Anderson Shelter in the garden, taking my sister Joyce and sharing the shelter with the next door neighbour Mrs. Smith.

One night, my Mum awoke hearing a loud thump of a nearby bomb. She said to Mrs. Smith that it must have been a close one. Mrs. Smith said, you must have been dreaming, you were snoring your head off.

Within a couple of minutes, they both heard a loud thump of a bomb. Mr Mum said that it was exactly the same as she had heard in her dream. The German bombers were aiming for the Kings Norton Factory Centre and the Brick Yard, both close to where Mum lived and the blast distorted the wall in the house between living room and kitchen. It remains there to this day.

I know my Mum was extremely frightened of the war, she knew Dad would be fire watching all night, so she and my sister were alone every night except one, when My Dad said that He didn;t care if Hitler himself came into the bedroom, he was not going to leave his bed.

I missed the war by a few months, but I wonder if I would have been as frightened as my Mum obviously was.

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