The Blitz

It was the 11th May 1941 the Blitz had started. I was playing out with my sister Jacqueline (she's ten years old) and with our friends Julie and Mary. We also played with my brothers William (he's eleven years old) and John (he's eight year old) with their friends George and David. We were playing quite happily, we were playing hopscotch. Every now and then the boys would beg the man at the sweet shop for some chocolate. Then suddenly there were wailing sirens, it was the warning. We started running, we couldn't find our mother but we could hear her. She was shouting for us, "Annie, William, John, Jacqueline where are you, come quickly?"

So we ran and ran. I lost John. I shouted for him, I couldn't see him through the crowds of children and worried mothers. I crawled along the floor he was lying there unconscious. William and I picked John up. William had his legs and I had his head and arms. Also Jacqueline was holding my arm so tight that she was cutting off my circulation, and we ran to home.

When we got home, mother was looking very white with shock but it didn't matter as we were all there and all are safe and then a big loud thump went. William and I ran down to the shelter, still carrying John all the way. Mother was getting a bandage for John's head and bleeding knee which I had just noticed. I'm glad, it's over for now. We're all lucky but what about Father's troop, they all were still missing in Germany, would we ever see him again or our uncle Victor when we get out of the shelter tonight?

It was so hard to get to sleep that night because we were all cramped in the Anderson shelter, with no food and water, just blankets to curl up in and pull above our ears. So it muffles the terrifying noises from the bombs exploding. I eventually dropped off but it was very late because it felt like it was only 10 minutes and I was asleep, but mother woke me up. I was surprised there were no bomb noises, no sounds at all, no talking, no shuffling of feet. Then all of a sudden we could hear voices outside the Anderson shelter. We listened to see if it was an Englishmen talking or a German, but then we noticed that they were English. So we tried getting through the door but it was dented in and jammed. We started banging on the metal walls trying to get someone's attention, to help us out. We started shouting, screaming as loud as we could.

We could hear people picking things up and then dropping afterwards. They were doing it again and again continuously. Mother started shouting, "Help us, we're stuck in our shelter, I think the door's stuck." Then a man with a deep voice shouted back, "You're alright, it's me, Mr. Smith. We're trying to get you out, is anyone hurt in there?"

"No," replied mother. I just noticed John was fine, he was awake and alive. In about 30 minutes, we were out and safe in the house alive. We were all glad that we were alive. Mother switched on the wireless and listened impatiently for her usual newsreel. Then all of a sudden, we heard father and uncle Victor's troop. We all stopped breathing with hesitation, as we heard that Father and uncle Victor's troop had been found alive with only a few broken bones and some bruises but he was safe. Mother was crying with happiness, we all were actually especially me.