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My first recollection as a very young child was a piercing wailing noise which I later learned was a siren. It was a signal for a German bombing raid.

I slept in the bottom draw of a chest of drawers. My Mother would hurriedly pick me up and take me to safety to an underground shelter. To this day I remember the damp mouldly smell.

I was placed on a bunk bed and the pillow was covered in a ticking pillowcase. This was hard and made of a grey and white striped material. I once saw a sofa in a shop window covered in ticking - my heart seemed to turn over.

If I hear a very loud siren today my legs turn to jelly.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Marcia West and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Marcia's stories:

• 1) The night I was born
• 3) The table lifted off the floor
• 4) Thrown in the gutter
• 5) My first chocolate bar
• 6) Crisscrossed tape and heavy black curtains
• 7) I walked twelve miles a day!

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