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This story has been written onto the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ People’s War site by CSV Story gatherer Jessica on behalf of David Sharpe. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.
Thank goodness our mother had a family of sisters in Plymouth which came in very handy as the war progressed.
We were living in Prince Rock in Aunt Ethel’s house when a land mine dropped two streets away demolished everything in between. We were in the Anderson shelter, so no casualties!
We then moved to Aunt Win’s house in Cattedown close to the gas works. One night when our father was firewatching in the gasworks a bomb dropped, so we were told, on the wall between us and the house behind. We were in an Anderson and were buried but no damage to us. However, the poor persons in a brick shelter with a concrete roof were all killed. When we were dug out, I saw our father in tears for the first and only time.
We then moved to the outskirts of Plymouth to Higher Compton to our Aunt Lil’s bungalow, but were not left alone for long. A bomb dropped on the bungalow next door and badly damaged ours. As we had now run out of Aunts we were forcibly billeted with an old couple up the road and even there we had a phosphorous bomb in the back garden. Fortunately it did not go off so the bomb disposal squad dug it up and the ensuing pit made a great den for us boys. We moved back to Aunt Lil’s repaired bungalow with no further problems. Our family was then offered one of the first aluminium prefabs from the USA. Fantastic! We had our first bathroom and fridge - what bliss!

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