Sunday, August 17, 2008

We lived in Denison Road, there was my Mum; and me; and my two sisters. Mother didn’t like going down the garden to use the Anderson Shelter when there was a raid on, so we sat under the stairs or under the big table in the kitchen. We were there that night when the bomb came down, the whole house shook and all the windows rattled. I think it was a German aircraft that should have been bombing London, but it had become a bit lost and it decided to get rid of its bomb load.

My grandma and my aunt both lived in Railway Terrace at the other end of Feltham High Street. They both ran all the way down the town to us, a soon as they heard that a bomb had fallen in our part of Feltham. They didn’t stop to dress, except perhaps to put a coat on, I remember that they were still wearing their night clothes and bedroom slippers with fluffy bobbles on the uppers – and they had come all the way down the High Street like that. They were very anxious to know if we were alright. They stayed with us for 3 hours, arguing that we should all go back to Railway Terrace with them. But mother didn’t want to leave the house and in the end they walked all the way back to Bedfont Lane in their night clothes and slippers, just as they had come.

The next afternoon, our Uncle, who was in the ARP, walked us round so that we could see the big crater that the bomb had made.

Two girls died with their family, we went to school with them at Feltham Hill School and were friends with them. We went to their funeral too.

I think the Father was home on leave from the Army when the bomb fell and he was killed with the rest of his family. People said it was probably better that way – better than being abroad and receiving a telegram to say that your whole family had been killed and you had been left alone in the world. I went to see the grave in Feltham Cemetery a while ago. I was sorry to see that it had sunk a lot on one side, it’s a big grave. It’s a shame that it is not regularly looked after.

4 comments:

Tony Dawson said...

I was also living in Denison Road (at number 41) when this bomb dropped. It must have been some time in 1944 when I was 7 years old. The bomb fell while all my family and my aunt Edie were huddled together in the Morrison shelter. She fainted on top of me because the bomb had fallen in Ellington Road where she lived and she feared her husband and children had been killed in the bombing. We subsequently discovered that it was two girls from my school (I also went to Feltham Hill) who had unfortunately had died. I can't remember their names - perhaps the person who wrote the blog could remind me. By a curious coincidence, my aunt's daughter bought the new house that replaced the bombed one many years later when she got married.

Tony Dawson (Sevilla, Spain)

Tony Dawson said...

I was also living in Denison Road (at number 41) when this bomb dropped. It must have been some time in 1944 when I was 7 years old. The bomb fell while all my family and my aunt Edie were huddled together in the Morrison shelter. She fainted on top of me because the bomb had fallen in Ellington Road where she lived and she feared her husband and children had been killed in the bombing. We subsequently discovered that it was two girls from my school (I also went to Feltham Hill) who had unfortunately had died. I can't remember their names - perhaps the person who wrote the blog could remind me. By a curious coincidence, my aunt's daughter bought the new house that replaced the bombed one many years later when she got married.

Tony Dawson (Sevilla, Spain)

Unknown said...

Hi, I now live in the house that was bombed. I would love to know more on the history etc. I have a sunken large concrete square in the garden. My Dad thinks it's a pond, however it seems far too big for that and the concrete is around 2ft wide on all 4 sides. Could it possibly be an old shelter?

Tony Dawson said...

Since I posted my earlier comment, I realize that my memory of the date was not quite accurate. My research reveals that the date the bomb actually fell was on the night of 7/8 October 1943. More than one house was destroyed in the blast, apparently; they were numbers 41-47 and I think Pemberton was the surname of the girls I went to school with, and who were unfortunately killed that night.

Tony Dawson (Sevilla, Spain)