大象传媒

My World War 2 Story.
By Tom Doubtfire

I was born on May 28th 1940 at the time of the evacuation of Dunkirk and invasion of the Low Countries.
We lived at Ruislip in Middlesex only 1000yards from the fighter airfield at Northolt and 7 miles from Regional Fighter Command at Uxbridge. Therefore we were a prime target for the German Luftwaffe and the first 3 years of my life spent every night sleeping in the Air Raid Shelter that was sunk into the lawn of our suburban back garden.
My father was working producing Handley Page Halifax bomber fuselages and at night was an Auxiliary Fireman. My mother was a telephone operator with the Fire Service. Sister Lynn was born in February 1944 and my Grandmother who lived with and cared for both of us.

At Christmas 1943 I had been given a size 5 leather football, which due to War shortages was like gold dust and I was every boys friend when it came to having a game of football!

Just after the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 the Germans began bombarding Southern England with the pilot less V-1 Flying Bombs. These were quickly nicknamed 鈥淒oodlebugs鈥�, but were no insects as they carried nearly 2000lbs. of High Explosive.

In mid-July 1944 my mother asked me to help her upstairs make my parents bed. It was a hot summers day and all the windows were left open and my sister put in her cot with a sheet wrapped round her.

Suddenly we heard an engine we had never heard before rather like an old motorbike revving very fast.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a Doodlebug鈥�, my mother shouted as she picked up my sister, 鈥渢here is no time to get to the shelter, lie down in the hall鈥�.
We rushed down the stairs and my mother lay on the floor protecting my baby sister by lying on her.
Then the engine of the V-1 cut out and we knew there was approximately 30 seconds to go before it crashed.
There then was the longest 30 seconds of my life until with a deafening roar the thing blew up at Eastcote about half a mile from where we were living. The blast went through our house rattling the windows, and my mother started to laugh rather hysterically as she got up from shielding my baby sister.

I, a 4 year old boy had been shielding my most precious possession, MY FOOTBALL!

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