大象传媒

I was 5 years old watching my dad prune the roses in our garden when he told me that he would be leaving to join the navy in the war. I did not really understand what he meant but when he had gone I know I missed him a lot. Mum and I stayed at our home and coped the best we could. We went to visit Dad in Scotland were he was stationed initially and we stayed at a bed and breakfast. I was not too popular because I went down with measles and all the other guests had to be immunised. Then we went back home and my brother was born. So mum had two of us to look after and by this time Dad had gone abroad to the war.

I remember one day this funny airraft with stubby wings flew over our house when I was playing in the garden. It looked like a torpedo with a tail and was making a whirring sound. Then its engine stopped. Later I learnt that it was the first of the V1 rockets and had landed in nearby Purley and exploded. By this time Mum had had enough so we all went to Formby in Lancashire to stay with my grandparents. But even there we could not escape the war as Hitler bombed the forests in front of us instead of Liverpool.

But the one person we all missed was Dad. We were lucky because Dad did return unharmed from the war and the day he returned I will remember for ever. It was a time of happiness for the whole family.

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