大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from S.Glos Library Service on behalf of Raymond Roberts and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Roberts fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

"My first memory is of when war was declared.I was in the garden with my brother and I remember crying and running to the bottom of the garden because I thought that this would mean that my father would have to go away and fight.

A few months after war was declared they put a searchlight on the hill above the village, and when it was lit we could see the planes and the bombs dropping on Avonmouth, Pilning and other neighbouring villages. It used to scare us because the searchlight could make our village a target.

I also remember as a boy playing in a field where there were quite a number of unexploded incendiary bombs. We would pick them up by the fins and try to make them explode by throwing them !

The time that two bombs were dropped on Aust I was in the Bristol Royal Infirmary with a broken leg. I was in the Mary Monaca Ward on the top floor. Bristol was being bombed and there was an anti-aircraft gun up behind the hospital. When it went off we were all frightened.

One of the bombs dropped on Aust, left a big crater beside the church, and everyone was amazed that the tower didn't fall down. The other bomb destroyed a house in the village though fortunately it's owners were in their shelter at the time."

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.