大象传媒

My mother and I were staying at a lodging in Bodmin, Cornwall, provided by the army so that we could be near my father who was a sergeant in the Dorset regiment which was stationed in that area.

We had come up from Weymouth because there had been a lot of bombing and we thought Bodmin was pretty quiet. The year was 1942 and the war was well advanced but being a young girl, 11 years old, I didn't really know much about it (no telly in those days).

One Saturday mid-morning I decided with my friend - the landlady's daughter - to go to town taking a bag of empty lemonade bottles to exchange for penny deposits, but not telling our mothers' we were going.

On the way, just past the local gas works, the Air Raid siren sounded a warning that enemy planes were in the area.

As we hurried down a small lane to find shelter a very loud roaring, thundering noise made me look up. There to our horror right above us was a large black aeroplane. I could see it so clearly, the big crosses and swastikas with roaring, whirring propellers. What made it so unreal to me was the sight of two figures looking down on us as we cowered by a wall. The helmeted heads and goggled eyes are something that I will never forget - just like aliens.

Then the bombing started. I actually saw the bombs coming out of the bottom of the plane. I think they were after the gas works but I don鈥檛 know. The explosions were terrible and of course something I had never experienced before.

Although we were sheltering behind a wall we were only a short distance from the gas works where the bombs were landing. The concussion from each bomb as it hit the earth literally lifted us off the ground and dumped us back down again. This was a most frightening experience with smoke and flame everywhere. It is only through good fortune that we were not hurt.

When it was finally over an ARP man found us cowering by the wall and took us to a shelter telling us we should have taken shelter when the siren sounded. He explained to us that it was a hit and run raider that came in and caught everybody by surprise.

Our mothers', frantic with worry, eventually found us at the shelter. Naturally we got a good ticking off but we were very lucky that is all we got. Sadly people had been killed and injured in that raid and we were fortunate not to have been among them.

As told by Mrs J B Ward, nee Bennett, aged 71 years. Resident of Weymouth, Dorset circa 2005.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.