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This story has been submitted to the Peoples War website by Irene Harkins and Angela Triggs of 大象传媒 Cov and Warks Action desk on behalf of the family of the late Ernie Smith's family who are aware of the conditions of the site.

Well, so to The Blitz ......

It was said that you never hesr the one that got you .... I dont know about that but I do rmember hearing one pass so close over my head that all I heard was a shriek, a blast of wind, and was taken off my feet ... then silence. The bomb was about 20 - 30 feet away and luckily for me a D/A. Later that night I was in Barkers Butt Lane by Three Sisters Avenue when a stick of bombs came down and we dived down by the wall of the Off Licence for cover ! Missed again ! Not so lucky were three wardens of Speiers Avenue. They tried to roll away a landmine. These were like large metal drums about 7ft long by 3ft diameter, packed full of explosives that came down on parachutes. Where they wer rolling it to Lord only knows but it didn't get there. It blew up and the wardens with it. The blast took the roof off the first aid post and we had to evacuate everyone. We evacuated in Dr Turner's car and tried all sorts of roads, eventually got to Brownshill Green. Then we were halted by a warden who told us that there was a landmine hanging in a tree, a few yards into a field alongside the road. We all agreed to go on and we drove slowly past the mine. We laughed about it afterwards. LAter that morning I made my way back to the first aid post to collect my bike which I usually left down the steps to the boilerhouse. I doscovered another D/A in the gateway alongside. For the second time that night I had to decide what action to take. I decided that I needed my bike and slowly crept down the steps, gently picked up the bike and crept away, try8ng not to cause any vibration that might set the bomb off. Once again I was clear ! It was on that same night that however, that our family owned printing works went up in smoke - along with the centre of the city.

I found myself without a job. After a day or two repairing my house and making it habitable I made enquiries at the Standard Car Factory, and was taken on as a milling trainee. Having a flair for engines and eingineering I was soon part of a gang making aircraft carburettors, and, as I was by now a hardened first aider was soon involved in the works ARP While on night shift I had the training of the works squad handed over to me. Fortunately 'Jerry' never hit our factory but once a plane came swooping down and machine gunned the driveway just as the girls were trying to get to the shelter. I was able to shout and stop them in time to see cannon shell exploding along the ground and hear bullets ricocheting between cycle racks. At about this time the first aid personnel were told we would be having small arms training as invasion was considered imminent. We were shown the mechanics of the rifle, the revolver and the sten gun - although we never fired a shot.We also had to learn how to handle and throw grenades (unfused of course) and had instruction with rescue ladders and ropes etc.

Changes were being made to the Civil Defence structure and first aid parties were cut out and had the choice of working with rescue teams or transferring to first aid post work. This involved secondary work inside, initial work having been carried out on the spot. Dr Turner said he hoped many of would opt for this work and 25 or more of us did so. I wasmone of these and so a new phase commenced, so very different from the rough and ready work performed at outside incidents. A phase of aspetic condition work under the eagle eye of one Sister Jones. Nevertheless it was highly instructive and has served me well ever since.Some of us got called out along the Birmingham Road - usually to road accidents, or sometimes home calls in villages. By this time raids were becoming a thing of the past and all kinds of rumours went about how we might be sent to London to be part of the Medical Corps.

As it happened, none of the rumours came to anything and when hostilities ceadsed in Europe we had a party at the Post. Everyone must have been saving something for such an occasion because the table was loaded with goodies.

So ends my saga of my time spent in Civil Defence in Coventry. A final word is that I would like to remember the ladies who suported us throughout the war, and wives and mothers who must have been worried when we were on duty. I'd like to say a special thanks to my wife for coping so well.

Postscript by Gordon Smith - middle son of Ernie Smith

It took me a long time to persuade Dad to record his wartime experiences, as he didn't like recalling some of it. He did this at sometime between 1974 and 1987 which was when his health began to deteriorate. What he hasn't said when recalling the First Aid Post was his anger at the time of a ceiling caving in and knocking a much anticipated fresh cup of tea out of his hand! What he said about making his house habitable after Blitz night makes light of the fact that the roof was blown off, all the windows caved in and the front door up the stairs in the bathroom. I was born 5 months later and there was still tarpaulin roof and boarded up windows....

When Dad worked at the Standard he worked on a rotating 2 week, 12 hour shift, six and a half days a week. With every other night on air raid and a big allotment to look after to supplement food rations, it's no wonder he was tired !

Dad relates these events mostly calmly but Mum told em that he sometimes came home very upset, exhorting her to get down the shelter as soon as the warning sounded, as he didn't want to b4e picking up pieces of his family.

Mum's procedure was to put me in my crib under the table when the alarm sounded, whilst she carried my brother ( a toddler at that time) to the shelter, then run back for me. Dad fitted a water pump to our shelter so it was always tenable. Apparently when the neighbours couldn't use theirs they would all crowd into ours, spedning the night passing me and my brother between them. Dad remained a member of St John Ambulance after they retired him from active service when he was 70. He was Corps Superintendent of South Warwickshire for many years. I believe this was the highest rank attainable as a non-professional member. I assumed Dad's 'gongs' were campaign medals. Clearly, one of them is much more than that.

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