Evening star., 1941-02-28
British Woman Tells
About Bombing Ordeal
England Will Manage
Says Author of Letter
Sticking IL in London
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
inclose a copy of letter that re-
ceived from lady in London and which
I believe you might like to publish be-
cause it shows SO clearly that the women
of England can take 1t" as well as the
men.
The lady in question is in an ambulance
corps and her husband holds a rather
important military post. Charles street
she mentions is near Berkely Square
J. w.
The night of January 13 we had
pretty hectic time round us, with three
bombs in bunch between us and my
ambulance station-about $50 yards from
us and rather nearer to the station. The
following night it was equally hectic
marvellous moonlight and bombs whis-
ting all over London. However, we are
getting used to the noise; and I went
to sleep, and at about am bomb fell
in the road about 10 yards from the
front door step They always say you
never hear the one that hits you, and
I certainly never heard sound. I was
sleeping in the f1rst-floor front room
and Blank, the owner, in the ground
floor, back, and there were six people
in the basement AS I say, never heard
thing, but was suddenly aware that I
had great difficulty in breathing and
couldn't move. 1 realized at once what
had happened and found I could just
lAfA
wriggle it about and make hole through
the pile of plaster and rubble so that
I could breathe. There seemed to be
pieces of wood resting on my head
which made q sort of little cave for my
face, but, of course, every time tried
to move a shower of muck fell in. I
heard Blank calling and yelled back that
was quite unhurt but unable to move.
I did have one qualn. when heard fire
engine bells, but they went past and I
was able to breathe CD again.
One girl in the basement was cut
about the face, and they got them out
first and then about four policemen
came up for me. They kept saying,
Where are you?" as I was completely
buried and they couldn't see me, so I
had to stick my hand through the hole
I had made and tell them how I was
lying as the bed was at an unusual angle,
running from the corner to the center
of the room. asked If any one had
anything with which I could cover my
face while they moved the stuff and
one of them produced large wedge of
cotton wool which was marvellous, al
though it didn't stop my ears being filled
with plaster Well, they got me out
pretty quickly and I tried to find my
shoes which were beside my bed, but
they were buried under some large
pieces of masonry which we couldn't
move. I think it was part of the wall
between my room and the next Luckily,
found pair Of shoes belonging to the
girl in that room, as the place was lit
tered with glass. My coat was at the
other side of the room and not buried too
deep, So as l always sleep in slackS and
a shirt, was well equipped.
I can't describe to you the chaos The
bomb was one of the ones that burst on
impact and do damage by blast The
large porches of our house and about
eight others had completely disappeared.
Windows and frames were completely
gone. the front of the house pitted and
SCARED; and all the partition walls be-
tween the front and back rooms were
blown down. Luckily it was a well-built
house, about 80 years old, and all the
floors and the stone staircase held, but
. it is quite uninhabitable. The furniture
was in indescribable confusion, but 1
think quite a lot will prove to be intact.
found I had a grazed forehead but no
other injury at all, which was miracle
l am quite certain we were all saved
from more serious injury by being in
beds, as the springs gave One woman
had part of the partition wall right
across her legs and was able to press
her legs down and withdraw them, and
they were only bruised. If she had been
on the floor they would certainly have
been broken.
When I got outside I found A and B.
When they heard the bombs they got
UP and went across to the station to be
greeted with message that an ambu-
lance was wanted in our square so they
rushed round. They were quite marvel
ous We all walked round to the first
aid post to have our various small in
juries looked at and then c. took five of
us back to her fiat and gave us coffee
At o'clock as soon as 1t was light we
went round and started salvaging our be-
longingS and managed to get lot of
clothes out before authority stepped in
and stopped us. then took two girls to
Charles street where we had baths. And
oh, how good it wasl We were only just
in time, as later in the morning the
water was cut off. I packed the one
girl off to her home in the country and
then the other and I got our hair washed
and went back to the house to do some
more salvage. have got all my clothes
out except one or two oddmentS, my
dressing table things and some paste
clips, also your photo and DIS, but may
find them when I get back. Everything
is quite unwearable until it is cleaned
Fortunately, I always kept bag packed
with change of clothes and had a
few things at Charles street, so I can
carry on. We were so thankful that we
rushed about and did things the first day
as the next We felt like hades.
1t is quite remarkable the escapes peo-
Piles have. I met man here who had
his house hit one night, his Office the
next day and his warden's post the fol-
lowing night, and he was in none of
them at the time.