大象传媒

I was 15 when the war started on the 3rd of September 1939 and living with my family in a suburb of liverpool.
I had been out early that morning and it was while I was walking home that Chamberlain declared over the wireless that a "State of War now exists."
As I walked down our street, on that lovely sunny morning, women were standing outside their houses in groups some with tears running down their faces. When I got home Mum was in tears and Dad looked grim. My eldest brother and my eldest sisters husband had already been called to join up with the regular army because they had been part time soldiers with the territorial army.
My other brother and brothers in law would shortly join them. Before the end of the war one would be killed another badly wounded and another taken prisoner by the Japanese.
A year later our lives changed with the commencement of the air-raids.
One of the most terrifying incidents of my life happened to me when I was sixteen. It occurred on the 3rd of October 1940. By this time I was working in a factory helping to make Tanks.
It was still daylight when I came out of the factory when a solitary German plane swooped down on us. At first I thought the plane was falling because I could see what I thought was tracer bullets aimed at the plane, in fact it was only when someone from behind pushed me down that I realised it was machine gun bullets aimed at us from the plane.
The plane dived towards us firing bullets then, as it circled away ready for another attack, we got up and ran. I managed to jump on a bus taking a number of factory workers home.
By this time the aircraft was practically on the tail of the bus and we could hear pinging noises which turned out to be bullets hitting the roof of the bus.
As soon as the bus driver realised what was happening he accelerated and swerved from one side of the road to the other till he got us to an air-raid shelter. The German was still machine gunning us as we ran into the shelter.I firmly believe that driver saved our lives.I remember looking back for my friend as I jumped on the bus, she had cycled to work that day and, as I looked back, I saw her throw her bicycle over a wall and dive after it. We laughed about it the next day but it wasnt funny at the time.

Another incident happened a month later on the 28th of november 1940 when Merseyside was to have one of the worst nights of the blitz. Gigantic land mines floated down by parachute and, as this was something new,noone new what to expect but they made more devastation than any bomb up to that date and the noise of the explosions were horrific.
Because we were confined to the house so much during the air-raids at night, my friend and I took it in turns to stay at each others house for company. That night I was to stay at my friends house.
We went straight to her house from work where my friend lived with her mother and sister, her two brothers were away in the forces.
We had just finished tea when the sirens went and we all trooped down to the shelter in their garden. We had been down there an hour or two when the boy next door came to tell me that the street where I lived had been bombed.
Without stopping to think I jumped out of the shelter ignoring shouts from my friend and her family to stay in the shelter and started running for home which was about a mile away. I ran all the way with my arms over my head, as if that would protect me from flying shrapnel.
It was pitch black except where there were fires burning and there was horrible smells from the explosives. The bombs were still dropping in the distance but I kept going I just wanted to get home.
As I got near the street I started tripping over debris caused by the bombs, soldiers from a nearby camp with air-raid wardens, home guardsmen and civilians were digging with their hands for survivors.There was a terrible smell of gas from damaged gas mains and the street was cordoned off but I decided to duck under the rope. An air-raid warden grabbed hold of me and I struggled to get away almost hysterical by now but I managed to tell him that I lived in the street. H e became very sympathetic then and asked me which house I lived in. I told him and he took my hand and took me down the street.
Thank goodness the house was still there,
The bomb had killed a little baby and badly injured the parents and people each side. Three houses had been demolished and windows blown in by the blast from the bomb.
When I got inside my house my mother and sisters were sitting under the stairs, one sister had her little two year old daughter in her arms. They were in tears and I was so relieved to see them still alive that I too burst into tears.
Those six years of war hold so many memories for me some of enormous happiness, some of grief but none of which I will ever forget.

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