My Memories of WWII

My first recollection is of sitting in the passageway of our house as it was considered the safest place to be at that time. Then as the blitz got worse it was the Anderson shelter where I remember one night waking to the droning of a German war plane. Then my Mother, Father, Grandmother and Grandfather all leant over me. I did not know why at the time but now know it was to protect me from any blast. My Greatgrandmother was deaf and dumb and was always being brought home when an air raid started if she was out at the shops as she never heard the sirens or the planes. She would never come into the Anderson shelter and one day after a particularly bad blast my Grandmother went to see how she was thinking the worst but there my Greatgrandmother was asleep under the bedclothes with the shattered window pane all over the counterpane on her bed with not a scratch on her. Hitler couldn't beat her she lived on to be 94. As I became older I remember waving to the Spitfires as they returned home, all the pilots waved back and some did the Victory roll. My next memory was of the Americans driving their army lorries in our road and throwing chocolate to the children. I was too shy to stand on the pavement to get a bar and one soldier saw me at my front door and threw a bar of chocolate at my feet. Wonderful as I had not seen chocolate before let alone tasted it. My last memory was of the Victory street party when there was a huge bonfire which everyone danced around and people grabbing me and holding my hand and getting me to dance round the bonfire also. I was a little scared of the heat but still took part, I was just six years old. Every time there is Armistice Day or any other commemoration of the war I shed tears and thank, from the bottom of my heart, all those who lost their lives and those that are still with us for saving my life and giving me my freedom. Thank you so very, very much to all of you, I will never forget.

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