大象传媒

D day stood vividly in my tender 8 year old mind. Around the area where we lived in Liss, Hampshire, there were many military camps and so on D Day thousands were passing down the roads in the area in all types of vehicles. It all seemed very exciting to my young mind to see so many soldiers going off to war. Thoughts of thankfulness were also in my head as I was told they were going to defeat the enemy in Europe.

I, with my family, were standing outside our house watching all the transport as it passed our door. Suddenly one particular noise caught our attention. The sound of aircraft engines. Within minutes the sky was full of airoplanes. The roar was deafening, but also reassuring. Wave after wave of aircraft came into view and then dissappeared over the sky line.

Suddenly one plane began to vear to the left and lose height. It was obviously in trouble. We saw two very small figures shoot from the plane and two white parachutes open and my mother said, "Well, at least they are safe." Hardly had the words reached our ears when the plane blew itself to pieces. The parachutes seemed to take ages to very slowly drift to the ground. Later we learned the two airmen had been blown off their parachutes when the plane exploded.

At an early age I experienced how tragic war is when lives are lost even before they reach the enamy.

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