They Intended To Bomb Poole But Hit Us Instead!
Heroes Remember
They Intended To Bomb Poole But Hit Us Instead!
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And we went by train then to Devon, to southern Bournemouth,
which was right down on the bottom, right on the
southern coast of England.
It's actually, I suppose now, a type of resort.
But, while we were there they used to bomb a place called Poole.
It was sort of a harbour or a port. And they'd bomb that,
oh I suppose once a week, but one night they missed.
It wasn't a very good bomb aimer or a very good navigator
and I had blood clots on the shins and I couldn't run.
And there was five of us I guess in this one room,
in this what used to be a hotel. That was our barracks.
But we'd head for the basement so somebody,
I woke up and I said, "They're at it again." One of the
guys said, "Ah, forget it." he says, "It's Poole again."
Then we heard the whistle of a bomb. That wasn't Poole. So the
three of us got jammed in the door trying to get downstairs.
So I finally got downstairs. They were running. I couldn't. And,
the guy I guess he was about five miles off the target because,
well Poole was farther than that I guess down the road.
Anyway, he dropped this one in the park and it made quite a mess,
but it didn't kill anybody because at that stage of the game,
you know. But that's when I decided I had to go to the hospital.
So they took me to the hospital the next morning and
when they looked at this and I wasn't allowed out of bed for,
oh I guess a couple of weeks.
And I keep, to this day I keep looking, there's nothing.
I was very fortunate.
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