The fragrant silence of the night was shattered by the siren's wail.
The boom of guns broke in upon the singing of the birds.
The stars that had been strung like lamps above the elm trees in the lane
Were outshone by bursting rockets falling in a crimson rain.
The skies that should have held such peace upon this perfect night in April
Became a roaring field of battle blazing round the young white moon.
The fighters passed - the stars came back - the drone of engines died away.
The birds took up their song and sang till the break of day.

By 1942, senior boys at my boarding school in south London were much involved with extra-curricular activities such as fire watching, first aid training and the Home Guard.

Many of the members of the teaching staff had left to join the Services and the constant air raids both by day and night severely interrupted our school work.

In the hope of a break from the air raids I arranged to spend the school Easter holiday with my Grandmother (nominally my guardian) who had moved out of London at the outbreak of the war and was now living in Bath, a city which I did not know but believed to be safe.

Needless to say, this was the very time the Germans decided to attack the city.

I realised that the training I had received in London might well be useful.  I was 17 at the time and I was given a Home Guard uniform which I put on and cycled into the city. There I found myself in a devastated area where a bomb had made a crater in the road, a gas main had broken and the escaping gas set on fire, the surrounding houses had collapsed and others damaged.  I set to helping to clear the rubble and searching for possible survivors.  I left at about dawn to find my grandmother and aunt who lived with her safe and sound in the undercroft of their house but unable to get into the house proper because the door was jammed.  On the second night I turned out again and spent my time helping fire crews.  I think that it was whilst I was doing this that an aircraft gunner fired several bursts at us.  Fortunately his aim was not good, as I am here today.

Following the raids, it was evident that there was a lot of work to be done.  I thought I should explain where I was and I sent a telegram to my school saying I would be late back and spent the next week patching up my grandmother's house and helping to clear rubble and recover victims of the raids, before returning to London which was quite peaceful compared to my "holiday" in Bath!