The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-10-19

Elm PARK i in Essex county On
the north side Of the Thames river.
which German pilots use - 4 guide
10 London and important indus
trial sites. Because q the factories
there. aim Park Il = military ob-
jective. and 80 such has been bomb
ed vigorously.
Mr. and Mrs. J. -. Jennings tell
Of these raids on Elm Park in q
letter TO jennings family here.
Jennings IL the son Of Mrs. Eliza
beth Jennings and the brother and
brother-in-law Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Walter Jennings. of 321o No. 18Th
street.
He began the letter. but a rad
interrupted him halfway down the
first page, and his wife took up At
that point-the next morning. They
and their Thelna. 4, and
Brian. 2-and the other residents
had spent the night In dueouts.
Nearby Home Destroyed
The Jennings home suffered
holes in the roof. shattered win
dows and 4 broken door from the
conclusion OF a tremendous hit on
a garage far off. A house not far
away was blown all over the
place"
The letter was written between
raids. and the intervals are indi-
Gated by the different shades OF
ink. II passed through the censor
a. though It were merely the ac-
count Of a rugby match, ~ not n
word was censored.
Here Il Letter
The letter follows:
Sept. Is. 1910.
Elm Park,
Dear Ma. Walter, Ethel. and
the boys I am writing this letter
to you all. hoping 10 find you In
the pink, as at present we here are
well and okay. but one never knows
these days just how long one Is
going to remain okay.
Many things have happened
since / last wrote you. Many
places in Elm Park have been dam
aged by bombs. Our house was hit
a fortnight ago, and the roof. doors.
windows and bathroom were a lit
tie damaged. A delayed action
bomb was dropped in the street
just a few yards from the front
door. and three high explosives
just across the street. Time out
for another air raid. sos p. m.
They Take Turns
Good morning. folks. (Mrs. Jen-
nings writing). Well. it's my turn
now to add few lines. Just how
few I don't know. as we are hav-
ing air raids all the time. We went
down to our dugout last night at
sos and the all-clear didn't go
until $40 this morning. and now
Fred's gone to work.
He asked me to finish this let
ter, a. he won't be home until 7:3O
and we always have an air raid
anytime from 7 on, 80 he won't get
much time.
We'll, / can see Fred's started
to tell you about Hitler's visit to
Elm Park. He dropped his bombs
all around us. Eight dropped with
in 40 yards OF the Riddles and me,
and We got the blast of the lot,
but we were safe in our dugouts.
Quite a lot OF dirt came in on US
and all the things inside fell down.
Windows Blown Out
I'VE were in quite a mess. can
tell you. but ais well that ends
well. had to send for Fred to
come home and you should have
seen his face when he saw the mess
our place was in. We'd got holes
in the roof. the front door was off,
and almost all Of our windows
were out.
The bomb that gave us our
trouble fell on the garage way off.
The house right in front OF us was
blown all over the place. One piece
came right over our place and fell
on Thelma's little chair and smash
ed II right up. She was sitting on
il a second before. How ] man.
aged to make her get out Of II so
quickly don't know. but we did
and we were Just inside the door
OF the dugout in time. and that's
something to be thankful for.
that night the home office
people came down and made US get
out Of Elm Park for 10 days, as
there was a delayed action bomb
just a few yards from US. Well. it
didn't take US long to find our way