Bomb alley No 12
We now have another new thing in one of the field,this is a barrage balloon which they raise and lower,these are suposed to prevent, low flying aircraft, but all they seem to do is present targets for the Messersmits who shoot them down,Dad says in Dover they have a saying we put them up you shoot them down,The army have now put a searchlight in one of my grans fields near to the wood, and the searchlight crew have a brengun for protection not that its that good as when we are up to collect eggs, and to clean out the chickens houses A German fighter dives down the searchlight beam,and opens fire which puts out the light.that was exciting,and something to be seen,its funny how we seem to forget how dangerous things are, and seem to except life to be like this.luckly no soldiers were hurt because they ran into their bunkers.We boys now have another interest, and this is to go out into the field,down by the railway, and dig out the incendiary bomb finns that stick up in the mud or soft ground.we then swap these for old bullet shells or pieces of shrapnel from the bombs, these are put into a bag and saved for a man to collect as these bits are melted down and made into other things for the war effort,some times we find an incendiary bomb that has not gone off,so we unscrew the bottom and take out the powder,and set it alight.if Mum or Dad knew this they would probbaly have a fit.then if you pollish the aluminium case of the bomb it shines really nice.I keep mine in the coal shed attached to our house,on a shelf.
bomb alley No 13
To day is the day of the birthday party down in Sturry,but as some of us are not aloud to go we can only wish her a happy birthday and hope they have a good party that night and all goes well..After the school bell goes we collect our schoolbags and make our way home for tea.after tea we are going over to the big house to see the soldiers, and clean some badges for them,then perhaps we will have a game on the truck,we all hope we shall have a quiet night as we havnt had much sleep of late,Mum and Dad recon we can sleep in the house to-night so that will make a change to sleep in my own bed instead of the one in the shelter,so after cleaning some badges, and playing on the cart that Dad made, its time for bed,anyway its dark now at nigh, so you cant really play outside.We have just finnished tea, when the siren go off again so it looks like another night in the shelter yet again.so its collect the gasmasks, and bedding,and make our way down to the shelter,after awile we can hear the guns again and planes flying over head on their way to London yet again.so we know they will be comming back in about a couple of hours time,so we play cards and do jigsaws, anything to pass the night away.To- day is the18 November1941,and it must have been around eight oclock when we hear a very very low aircraft, and we think it may be crashing, then we hear gunfire which is drowned out by one massive explosion followed by another,we wait to hear anymore because usualy they drop six bombsor which is called a stick of bombs, but no more come,except for things falling on the shelters outer door.Dad says he thinks its bricks and things comming down, and that those bombs must have been very close,he hopes it isnt Mr and Mrs Butlers house accross the field.from us, then we can hear something like rain comming down on the shelter door.so Dad lifts the shelter door, to have a look,when he looks down at us again his face is coverd in black spots of soot,he thinks it is further down the road, as he could see fire glowing from that direction,then the air raid warden come to our shelter and tell Dad they need the fire engine, and water tank, and any one who can help,as its Sturry that has been hit by two massive bombs,so Dad has to leave, and just tells us to stay in the shelter for the rest of the night.and he will see us in the morning. now the Greman Bombers are comming back from raiding London,so we are worried that they will see the fires,in the villiage and drop any bombs they have left,I am glad that it was not Derek and Allen house, and that its O K ,My Dad didnt come home in the morning and we hope he is O K,then a warden comes and tells us that we cannot go to school to- day,because of all the work that is going on in Sturry,with fire engines, and ambulances, and military vehicles everything is needed to help in the villiage,and the roads are closed,eventualy my Dad comes home for a short brake,and a rest,he say its terrible, most of Sturry has been raised to the ground and there are very few houses still standing,all night he and the others have been helping to recover boddies from the rubble,and are trying to find others who may be burried,alive so he must go back to help,after eating something,Mum say he should rest.but Dad says he must get back to help find people, everyone is needed. After he has worked for two days in the villiage,he says that they think it was two land mine bombs, which usualy are dropped by parachute, and are exploded above ground on their way down.these boms are really big so this would account for the devistation.one had apperantly dropped on the Canterbury side of the villiage, and the other had dropped on the eastside. so the combined blast of these two bombs had done damage covering a quarter of a mile and had left two very very large bomb craters,each side of the villiage.My Mum asks dad about the birthday party,he says this was one of the terrible things they had to cope with,as some of the boys and girls, and their parents had all been killed,so far they had removed twelve boddies from that area,and are still searching,not knowing how many were there at the party was hard to do.but dont know if they were all to do with the party,and could be from other houses.Dad say thank God me and some of my pals didnt go, but terrble for those children who did, and their parents,.there will be a few less playmates in school when we eventualy go back.as yet we have no idia when this might be.When most of the boddies have been recovered, Dad says that there is not enough room in the little Mortuary to place them,so some of the dead have bean taken to the little fire station in Westbere,which is really the villiage hall, and where they keep the fire car and trailer,I overheard Dad telling my Mum that one of the awfull thing that he had to do in some cases was to break arms and legs in some cases to be able to remove the boddies from the wreckage, and some were children.this upset many of the workers, and also my Dad.
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