War Baby Head Banger 1944

A Memory of Chester-Le-Street.

I was born in September 1939 just after WW2 had started...My parents who had their house in Waldridge Road decided to move into West Lane to be near my Grandparents while my Dad who was in a reserved occupation was away quite a lot dealing with armoured vehicles.

My Grandad had built a shelter within the house where we could sit during an air raid to eat and drink.
After one particular raid when I was 4 years old Grandad took me outside to see the raid on Sunderland only a few miles away....We could see and feel the guns firing and the "Flaming Onions" (tracers) going up into the searchlights...I leaned back to watch an aeroplane come over and I fell and hit thre back of my head against my Grandads car bumper bar.........Well, there was lot of blood and tears and luckily our family doctor lived only 400 yards away.....Grandad ran to get him and they returned to "repair" the back of my head.....It healed OK but at 75 years of age I can still feel the lump...there is also a scar and my hair round it doesn't comb down properly.

When war ended I remember going into the Front Street to see the street lights come on again and in the shops after so many years of blackout and faint lighting..................

We also moved back to Waldridge Road in 1946 Dad having returned home safely

My Uncle George was a flight engineer in a Stirling bomber and he also returned to civilian life setting up G A BAMBROUGH the Haulage Contractor business

Ian Huntly