大象传媒

I was born in Nuneaton in 1934 so i was 6 when the war started. These are my recollections of the war.

My father was taking my mother a cup of Tea on the Morning of September 3rd. He took the paper upstairs with him to read the headline - 'War'. It was a pleasant and sunny day but disaster was approaching.

My Dad worked in Foleshill near Coventry, and when things got desperate (as much industrial production of arms for the forces as possible) he worked 7 days a week and long hours. The air-raids started before 7 o'clock in the evening in the winter. My father would not be at home because he was still working until half past 8.It was unsure to us as to where my father was because he often visited the pub after work, and there was no way to contact him.

I remember seeing the sky being a bright red glow on the night of the Coventry Blitz.

I lived on Barton road and i was suddenly awoken by a German Plane, resembling a ball of fire, flying at a right angle to the street. It crashed near Hilltop. It terrified me, but it only lasted a few seconds. I later found out that the crew had bailed out and been captured.

In the Nuneaton Blitz, i was only 7. My mother decided to have a photograph of my sister and myself as a family portrait. I dressed up in my best clothes, had the photo and then later went to my Aunties for tea. I was taken ill for some strange reason. We got home and the roof on out air-raid shelter was being replaced - we had one of those shelters with a flat roof. It was a long siren. We didn't have a roof on the shelter and we daredn't open the door incase the dog ran outside and got scared, so we spent the night hiding in various places for example under the stairs. My grandad was stopping with us - he was in his 60's. When the 'all clear' siren sounded, i remember my grandad emerging from under the sink where he had been hiding for an amount of time which i am unsure of (at least 5 hours). He had been squidged in a yard by a yard space and when he emerged he just shook himself and walked away. This amazed me how he didn't need any help to get out and afterwards walked completely normally. Afterwards, at 5 o'clock in the morning, we took a walk around Nuneaton. Attleborough Road and by Coton Church which had been bombed. We walked to College Street and saw that there was a hole in the middle of the road there. In Edward Street and Henry Street there had been a bomb dropped and the local co-op had been reduced to rubble with sugar all over he road. Heath End Road had been bombed. I remember seeing the other boys collecting bomb fins or sometimes even whole bombs to take home. I wouldn't have dared to take anything like that home. I remember seeing the smoke still present hours later. The roads were impossible to drive on because of the amount of road closures, however, there wasn't that much traffic about in those days anyway.

My sister (who was 11) was out blackberrying in fields at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the siren went off. In her hurry and fright she ditched the blackberries and ran all the way home.

My friend up the road from us had a brother in the Navy who had been killed. It brought home to me the reality of people who went to war and just never came home.

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