LONDON WOMAN WRITES OF BOMB HORRORS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 257, 13 January 1941, Page 6

LONDON WOMAN WRITES OF BOMB HORRORS

"The women of London are splendid. Every single one of us is on the battlefield; but please do not let this letter distress you . . . We are not grumbling, nor are we disheartened . . . We have undertaken this job and are seeing it through." So writes a young London woman to a friend in Australia. She and her husband arc both engaged in air raid work. Describing an air raid, she says: "Jack and I were sitting in our fortress —the kitchen—when he yelled: 'Put your head down.' Crash, bang, smash. A high explosive bomb had landed. We both went to the road to see if we could be of any help. I; liad no steel helmet, so I seized the padded lining of a tea cosy, put it on my head, and then placed over it an inverted'enamel bowl. I ki|,)t the outfit on with a scarf. "You just don't feel afraid, the whole thing is too big to allow such a little feeling as personal tear. "In a little while the ambulance, rcseue squad, and fire squad, were on the spot. Two houses opposite us had been blown to pieces. "After we had done all we could we returned to bed„ but hacl 'just gone to sleep when a policeman woke us and told us that there was ail unexploded bomb in the far corner of the school grounds next to lis. but Ave went to sleep. "We sleep on the ground floor now because it is safer. The front part of our living room is full of clothes given to me for the homeless. The need is colossal . "I was deeply touched the other evening after asking church members for clothes for the homeless. One little Avomnn whom we call •'Auntie Bessie" pressed a pound note into my hand. She does housework, and she had saved the money for a holiday." •