ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Three Counties Action on behalf of John Thridgould and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was born in 1935 so I was 5 when war broke out and 10 when it finished, we lived in Southwark for most of the war. I remember coming out of the shelter, my father was an air raid warden and he said be careful because an unexploded bomb was in a house nearby, in the floorboards in their front room. My dad told me that Mr. Pullen was digging it up; he doesn’t want the street to blow up. My dad wouldn’t let me go and see. About 10 minutes later we caught a glimpse of him going down the street with it in a wheelbarrow. My dad told me it was a high explosive unexploded bomb. I remember it had pins and a metal band at the top. It must have been 3ft tall. It was sticking out of the wheelbarrow. He disappeared around the corner. I hear he went and took it to a bombsite where houses had been flattened, it was wasteland. I think it was reported and the police were wondering how it got there. He was regarded as a local hero but the police went round and arrested him for endangering the lives of other people, but he thought he was doing the right thing. I;m sure my father said it was a 1000 pound bomb. I’m not sure though.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.