大象传媒

During the war I lived in Deenethorpe, a small village just outside Corby. Before the war there were 37 houses and a pub, after the war there were just 27 houses. The 401st bomber group US Airforce had a station there. There was a huge aerodrome and runway there, and they took off for bombing missions. I later found a loose copy of the complete casualty record for this bomber group during the war. There are photographs with many of the men looking very young.
I was born in 1933. I remember the bombers going over, and Coventry being bombed. My father was in the army, stationed in Portsmouth and my mother, my sister and I went there for 6 weeks in summer 1940 or 1941. The Guildhall was bombed one night when we were there. Houses on the other side of the road from us were badly damaged. The beach was barb wired off, but there was one small section you could go on.
A bomb was dropped on the Victory while I was there. It went all through the decks and exploded. The blast went round the ship, and didn鈥檛 cause too much damage. There were many air raids while we were in Portsmouth. There was an Anderson Shelter in the garden. After the raid I would go round the streets the following morning and pick up bits of shrapnel.
I had my last ice cream of the war in Portsmouth. We had sweet coupons. We had extra as my mother used to buy coupons off someone who preferred the money to spend on drink. We had lots of vegetables, a little meat, the odd tin of corned beef. We had a lot of casseroles.

I went to St Peters school. Peacock & Waller was a factory in Leicester Road. Mr Peacock鈥檚 son, David, was a sergeant in the RAF. At school we watched him as he flew too low, crashed on the common and was killed. His girl friend was at the top of Castle Street and he flew low for her to see him.
MIRA location became an American bomber base at the end of the war. The runway was in line with Stoke Golding church. The planes had trouble clearing the steeple, so it was dismantled. Each stone was marked with a number, and the weathercock taken off the top. It was all stored under a tarpaulin. While it was down the scoutmaster repaired and re-gilded the weathercock. You can still see the grey mark from the join when it was put back.

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