大象传媒

Luther Road, Junior School. Must have been in 1941. We heard a low flying bomber come over from the docks. It was very low. They could have straffed us all. We could see the crew and the gunner in the nose. There was something under the plane, and a black object dropped. The teacher shouted "down the shelter" and we ran as quickly as we could. Next thing we knew about it was that we were told there was an unexploded bomb in Holywells Park, just near us. They took it away for detonation.

We'd been evacuated briefly. With Mum we went to an Aunt's in Saffron Walden. I remember the Blacksmith's. After three weeks Mum said, if the Germans invaded we'd have nothing to go back to. We might as well be there. So we came back.

I remember late 1943, Seymour Road. That bomb exploded at one o'oclock in the morning. The Harris family were hit. We were in the street. The youngest of their three sons came up to us and said, calmly, "My father's dying - cut by flying glass.' Then he just went back.

Ipswich was really ready for street-to-street fighting. There was camouflage everywhere, and tank traps, barriers.

Reproduced by Ipswich Museum with Mr Goodchild's permission.

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