Ray Price
I was 7 years old when the Blitz happened. The air raid siren went off at around 7pm and I was having a wash in a tin bath in front of the fire. I was at my house in Fynford Road, just off Radford Road by the Daimler factory - which, during the war, manufactured armoured cars. Our Anderson shelter was just by the kitchen window though it shouldn’t have been there; it should have been at the bottom of the garden instead.
My sister was only a few months old when the air raids happened. Every time the sirens went off we had to put her in a gas mask that covered her whole body. She didn’t like it and screamed and screamed! This is what stopped us from getting into the shelter quickly as she wriggled and screamed.
When I was inside the shelter, I felt excited but then a bomb landed near us and I was apprehensive. We took in one small paraffin lamp and my mother used to make shadow shows on the walls to entertain us and stop us feeling scared.
My father was out and about fire watching across Coventry. He could see that fires were heading for our house and he came back and spent the rest of the night with us.
That night, the bombs whistled as they fell down and I had a funny feeling where your mouth unexpectedly dries up. Suddenly…BOOM! A bomb exploded right near us trying to hit the factory. We had only 2 beds and a couple of flasks of tea, in the air raid shelter. We were in there for 12 hours and it was very boring.
After the siren had sounded to come out of the shelter we went outside. Amazingly, no houses in my road had been bombed. However, my school (Radford) had all burnt down. I didn’t feel sad about it. I went to what was left of the school to see if I could get any paper and pencils but my teacher was standing there. She took my friend and me to one side and tried to teach us. That was the last time we ever saw her.
The morning after the blitz, I was going to get some vinegar and I walked past some dead Polish airman who was staying in the Coventry at this time. A person told me that they saw parachutes coming down. He thought they were German soldiers but they were landmines! The soldiers started shooting them and as a result, they exploded in the air! This is an interesting fact that not very many people know!
I was in all blitzes but I was evacuated after the big air raids. We were treated badly whilst we were evacuated and I didn’t like it at all. I missed my family and friends. My brother and I tried to escape a few times but were taken back to our evacuation hosts. In the end my father came to get us and unfortunately we were in Coventry when it was blitzed again in April 1941.
Even today, 14 November 2015 (75 years later), when I hear air raid sirens on the TV or Coventry Transport museum (where they have a Blitz exhibition), I still get the dry funny sensation in my mouth.