Rene's War
The bombing of Birmingham 1942
I was seventeen years old at the time and we had been having terrible air raids
for the past two years. All the theatres and dance halls were closed. The only
place you could go to for entertainment was the cinema, or, as we used to call
it then 'the picture house'.
One night I decided to go to the pictures as there was a picture (film) I was
longing to see, it was only on for three days. In those days they used to change the programme twice per week. I can remember it was a Tuesday night and there had been an air raid the night before. My mother pleaded with me not to go out as there was only my six year old brother at home, my father was in the army stationed on Salisbury plain. He was a driver in the Royal Tank Regiment and he was training new recruits to drive tanks.
I was determined to go to the pictures so off I went. We were half way through
the film when it was flashed on the screen that the sirens were going. This meant that we were having an air raid and you could either take the risk of staying to finish watching the film or go down into the 'air raid shelter'.
I, together with quite a number of others, stayed to watch the film. It was a moon
lit night and I had been walking on my way home for about twenty minutes when I
heard the roar of planes. There was a whistling sound and a man that was walking
behind me pushed me to the ground. Before I hit the ground I felt a wind go
through my whole body and then we heard an explosion. When I finally got up my
coat was blown open and all the buttons had disappeared. My silk blouse was also
flying wide open and the buttons on it were also missing. I had started out with my hair piled up on top of my head but after that experience it was all all down, blowing around my face.
I must have looked terrible. The man that had pushed me to the ground helped me
to my feet and made sure that I was all right. When I walked in through the front door at home my mother went hysterical at seeing the state I was in.
I never went to the pictures again until the war had finished.
The bomb had dropped on Nursery Road, Lozells and I had felt the blast on Lozells
Road, a distance of several hundreds of yards and with many houses and other
buildings in between!
I count myself lucky to be here to tell this tale.
Rene Mundy
February 2013
The bombing of Birmingham 1942
I was seventeen years old at the time and we had been having terrible air raids
for the past two years. All the theatres and dance halls were closed. The only
place you could go to for entertainment was the cinema, or, as we used to call
it then 'the picture house'.
One night I decided to go to the pictures as there was a picture (film) I was
longing to see, it was only on for three days. In those days they used to change the programme twice per week. I can remember it was a Tuesday night and there had been an air raid the night before. My mother pleaded with me not to go out as there was only my six year old brother at home, my father was in the army stationed on Salisbury plain. He was a driver in the Royal Tank Regiment and he was training new recruits to drive tanks.
I was determined to go to the pictures so off I went. We were half way through
the film when it was flashed on the screen that the sirens were going. This meant that we were having an air raid and you could either take the risk of staying to finish watching the film or go down into the 'air raid shelter'.
I, together with quite a number of others, stayed to watch the film. It was a moon
lit night and I had been walking on my way home for about twenty minutes when I
heard the roar of planes. There was a whistling sound and a man that was walking
behind me pushed me to the ground. Before I hit the ground I felt a wind go
through my whole body and then we heard an explosion. When I finally got up my
coat was blown open and all the buttons had disappeared. My silk blouse was also
flying wide open and the buttons on it were also missing. I had started out with my hair piled up on top of my head but after that experience it was all all down, blowing around my face.
I must have looked terrible. The man that had pushed me to the ground helped me
to my feet and made sure that I was all right. When I walked in through the front door at home my mother went hysterical at seeing the state I was in.
I never went to the pictures again until the war had finished.
The bomb had dropped on Nursery Road, Lozells and I had felt the blast on Lozells
Road, a distance of several hundreds of yards and with many houses and other
buildings in between!
I count myself lucky to be here to tell this tale.
Rene Mundy
February 2013
