- Contributed by听
- RAF Cosford Roadshow
- People in story:听
- George Hewson
- Location of story:听
- Sutton-on-Hull, Hull, East Yorkshire
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A2791389
- Contributed on:听
- 29 June 2004
I was only two years old at the start of the war so my memories are somewhat fragmented and disjointed, but here goes:
- my parents were both deaf; our next door neighbour who was an ARP warden was given a key to our house so that at the start of an air raid he would let himself in and wake up my parents before starting his duties.
- as young boys we were always intrigued by seeing wrecked aircraft, both ours and theirs, being taken on Queen Mary lorries to the local RAF station. On arrival, these wrecks were re-assembled and "torched", trainee firefighters were then taught how to extinguish the resulting fires.
- one night a "land mine" was dropped on a house at the bottom of our street about 200 yards away; it was probably ment for the docks some five miles away! The result was four houses demolished, a dozen or so severely damaged and our front door ended up in the back kitchen.
- we once found a sten gun out in the fields (fortunately no ammunition). After playing with it for a day or two we took it to our local policeman. "Where did you find it?" he asked. We told him. "When did you find it?". "This morning" we said. "WHEN???" he asked again. "Two days ago" we cried knowing we were in trouble and we were, a clip round each ear.
- shrapnel was always a problem. Not only did it break roofing tiles, it also peppered our school playing field. Before games could start, we had clear the field on our hands and knees - miss a piece and the result was bloodied legs, mine still bear the scars!
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