- Contributed by听
- Wakefield Libraries & Information Services
- People in story:听
- Mrs J Campey
- Location of story:听
- Norfolk
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A2797167
- Contributed on:听
- 30 June 2004
This story was submitted to the People's War site by Alison Roe of Wakefield Libraries on behalf of Mrs Campey and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
I was the secretary to the Sections Officer for Number 7 area at Newmarket, Civil Engineers responsible for building airfields, radar stations and anything RAF or USAAF in the north of Norfolk. I worked in the centre of Norwich and we managed building airfields like Bircham Newton, West Raynham, Coltishall, Horsham and their satellites and radar stations like Happisburgh.
We were bombed in Norwich as part of the Baedecker Raids in April and at the end of June 1942. That was our worst year but we were lucky and were too far north for the buzz bombs.
The April 1942 raid caught my father fire-watching and we all had to rush for the shelter. This was bad for me because I had been up all night for many nights and wanted to sleep.
My aunt was bombed out that night, and was bombed out again in the June raid by an incendiary - luckily she did not lose her life although her home was totally burned out.
You had to have a normal life at that time so you went to the cinema even when they put the warnings on the screen. The biggest problem was getting a full night's sleep at least until later in the war. For me '42 and '43 were the worst.
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