大象传媒

Although only four years old at the time I have vivid memories of the Doodlebugs. The unusual sounds it made were brought back to me when I saw the film Operation Crossbow.I remeber the air-raid siren going off and my mother and I went into our shelter at the bottom of the garden, a reinforced brick/concrete building it had no door, just an opening with a blast wall in front we had bunk beds and blankets all ready for use. My father was in the auxilliary fire service and was on duty this particular night. I remeber that dreadful sound of the doodlebug and I seem to remember you had to count to ten after the noise stopped if you got to ten you lived! The all clear sounded and my mother and I went back into the house, usually under these circumstances I would go back and sleep with my mother in her bed. In the morning I clearly remember looking out of the bedroom window, our house was at the bottom of a 'T' junction and I can still see my father walking down the street in his uniform holding a young girl in his arm and the girl's mother walking by his side. They had been bombed out and they stayed with us for some time before they moved in with other relatives. My father kept his fireman's axe in a cupboard in the lounge and as a treat he let me take it out of the leather case, I always had a fireman's carry up to bed every night.

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