WITH reference to wartime photographs (The Press, November 12), in particular the Guildhall being bombed in 1942, during that raid I was a bewildered four-year-old, sat in an Anderson air raid shelter, in Langholme Drive, Acomb, York.
My father was employed at the York Carriage and Wagon Works, a cabinet maker by trade, and during the war repaired and built aircraft fuselage and wings for gliders.
As for the drone of aircraft over our street, the noise was only too familiar, either from enemy aircraft or the RAF embarking on missions over occupied Europe, from nearby bases namely Rufforth, Linton-on-Ouse and others in close proximity.
Cycling from home to these airfields and observing the bomber squadrons based there left me in awe and living a page from the Boys Own manual, without understanding the dangers the crew of aircraft such as Halifax and Lancaster bombers had to endure.
A brother of one of my school friends met his fate as a tail gunner, but even though our house received shrapnel fire from enemy aircraft, the wartime spirit brought communities together.
Memories such as these remind us that we were lucky to survive.
Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.
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