Survivors of New Milton Bombing

It was August 23rd,i remember it so well, i was 12 years old.I was standing on the corner of Station road & Old Milton road, with my friend John Hutchings,who was 9 at the time. All of a sudden a lone Heinkel 111 bomber flew over incredibly low,letting go of what we thought were properganda leaflets. Seconds later we realised that these we not leaflets, but a stick of bombs---three 250-pounders, and nineteen 50 pound anti-personnel and incendiaries.Much of the shopping centre was devestated, with 20 civilians and 5 soldiers killed. I was amongst those injured as shrapnel ripped through my leg, whilst John got a clip round the ear from his Dad.
Robert Adlard the builders merchants received a direct hit,with the building and contents going up in a mass of flames which took hours to control.
Around the corner in Station Road,the Misses Loveless's draper and haberdashery shop was reduced to a pile of rubble, but somehow all 5 inside escaped uninjured.
Other shops on either side such as Hawkers and Matthews,were severely damaged.
I remember the raid that day.The German Bomber flew so low that the crew were clearly visible.It flew over New Milton, before circling in the Sway direction and returning to make its bombing run.
John and I had been cadging Army cap badges from soldiers for our collections.We were talking to Bill Pitman who worked on the Railway.
Such was the blast of bombs,that i was blown down the street to the World Stores.
I picked myself up and felt my leg was numb . I looked down to see flying shrapnel had left a 9-inch wound in my left leg,with the muscles hanging out. I crawled into the Beehive Bakery next door, where Miss Haines put me on a seat and gave me a glass of milk, which promptly made me sick.
With that,a soldier came inside the shop, and lifted me into the back of an army truck, which took me to "Telgama Wilds", a big house opposite Fernhill Lane,which was used as a tempory Army Hospital.
They sewed my leg up,but i couldn't walk on it,because all the leg muscles had been cut.
My Mother was told that i needed another opperation, but she couldn't afford to pay for me to have it done.I was lucky,Dr Salkield,my doctor , did it for nothing.
I spent the next 3 months in Milford Hospital,and for some time after that,I received electrical treatment twice a month.
John was sure the air-raid siren did not sound to warn of the sudden attack,and afterwards, it was learned that soldiers did not fire their Lewis Gun on top of the water tower - probably the Heinkel's intended target----because there was no-one of sufficiently high rank to have authority to issue the necessary ammunition.
I still bear the scar to this day , but despite my injury , on reaching the age of 15, i became a messenger boy for the towns Fire Service,hanging my bike on the rear of Fire Engines on call-outs, for which i received 3/- per night. I was later called up for National Service with the R.A.F.
Another bombing raid was carried out over New Milton on August 8th 1942 with 1 fatality.
On January 22nd 1943, whilst my parents were out I slipped across to the Tompkins house 50 yards away to ask Mrs Tompkins if her 2 sons,Don and George could come home to keep me company.It was around 8pm, and they were just off to bed, but she agreed they could go.It was soon afterwards that a bomb dropped, and a big slab of concrete landed on their bed,which collapsed. the 2 boys would have been killed.

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