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This story has been contributed to the People's War by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Learning Centre, Gloucester, on behalf of Tony Edwards with his permission.

I was five years old when the war broke out. I don't have many memories of the war but there is one thing I remember very vividly.

My father Frank Edwards was in the ARP and usually on the nights when there was an air raid on London and the sirens went off he was always at the communication hut they used about an hour before the sirens went off and everyone else used to wonder why he was there so early and had the kettle on and the cups of tea already made.

We had a Scotch collie that always used to go mad about an hour before the raids happened and the dog used to run round in circles.

My mother used to say to Dad: "Why don't you go down to the hut, you know there's an air raid coming, this dog's going bananas" and that was how he was always the first one on duty.

I remember seeing a flying bomb going over Slough, that was very memorable. I can still hear the whistle it made and then suddenly going very quiet.

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