Victoria Seaton
My grandma was 20 years old in 1940 and newly married to my grandad who was overseas in the Navy.
She lived in Birmingham and her house backed onto the Grand Union Canal, the railway and large industrial areas which were used to manufacture armaments during the war (she worked at the Crown Bedding which produced tank parts). On the night of 14 November, the air raid sirens sounded in her neighbourhood but her family didn’t go down into their Anderson Shelter because it was filled knee-deep with water.
My grandma remembers climbing onto the house roof and watching the bombs dropping over Coventry city centre, seeing the flames destroying many of the buildings and watching the Cathedral engulfed. She recalls being terrified that their city would be next.
Just five days later the Luftwaffe began their night time assault on Birmingham. My grandma and her family were incredibly lucky that their house remained undamaged by the Blitz, however, an incendiary bomb did land in their garden. She rushed out with her brother to start covering the missile with dirt and sand but it detonated before it had been completely buried. My grandma still bears the scars from where the blistering hot metal landed on her and burnt through her clothes to her skin. At 95 years old she has lost many of her memories so I’m just pleased that she managed to tell me her story before it was lost forever.