The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-03-19
THE HIGHER
THE FEWER
There's Always Plenty of. Room
AT The Top
BY
NANCY j. MIDGETT

! llldI oo1l0ey AeSAAAOOAA3 40 NSASS -
could have / would have got
lower than snakes belly down
a coal mine as my younger
brother used to say. The reason?
"a German plane had just come
in from the sea on a hit and
run raid and had started letting
loose in their usual generous
manner; not just bombs but
bombs and cannon. For some rea-
son the cannon fire always wor-
ried me more than the bombs.
To return to that particular
afternoon. 1t was a nice sunny
day and we, having finished our
week end and household chores.
were spending the afternoon sun
bathing in our garden, which
incidently was high on a hill
above Torbay, in the town OF
Torquay, Devon. Our view was
out over the town towards Ella
combe and Babbicombe with a
sheer drop behind the garden
down to the street below. Many
U. S. soldier and sailor for that
matter will know what mean by
the rock walls with steps cut
down them as short cuts to the
town or sea front.
1t was getting near teatime-
that great body and soul reviver
so I and my friends and CO.
workers who shared the apart
ment, decided to go in to shower
and dress before the meal and
our evening walk, either to
church or along the sea-front or
as near to it as we could get IN
those days for barbed-wire and
mines.
I was standing in my room
which also faced out over the
town, when l heard a plane ap-
preaching low and as no alert
had gone, I wondered what on
earth some Raj pilot was think
ing of, coming that low to scare
people and decided he must be
feeling good and maybe wanted
to impress his girl friend. A men
tai apology was soon forth
coming however, for the next
minute was standing there gaz-
ing out the window at what to
my recollection was a yellow
plane with a large cross on the
side. It was almost within
splitting distance as they say
below my eye level and could
clearly see the pilots head and
shoulders. 1t seemed as if stood
there for ten minutes with my
mouth open but it must have only
been second for 1 and my
friend. Ozzie had dived through
the bedroom door and yelled
German to the rest of the house
hold in their respective rooms
who were out of sight but not
sound of the plane. The other
family in the house was that of
an Raj officer and his wife and
two children. I remember the
mother automatically took one
step to the stairhead then ran
back to the children's room,
grabbed them up from their beds
where they were mapping and
vanished down the front stairs,
my friend Ozzie making her way
behind them, heading for the
closet under the stairs.
That route seemed too crowded
to me, so l took the opposite
direction toward where the plane
was now letting loose its cannon
fire to keep our anti-aircraft
gunners heads down. Incident
ally they didn't, for they shot
down one plane at least; there
were three in all that day.. But
there was a brick wall between
me and it with little glass. That
was one thing that was learned
early-keep away from glass or
better still keep the glass away
from one by removing all of it
that was removable and sticking
the rest so that it couldn't fly
around so easily.
My descent was by the back
stairway to the stone floored
kitchen and pantrys, etc, and l
think my feet touched them
about three times on the way
down and from then on / truly
emulated the snake by getting on
the 'tum' and crawling with my
head tucked underneath my arm
so to speak.
All this sounds long in the
telling but l was half way down
the stairs before the first bomb
exploded and rubbing my face in
coaldust in the cellar before l
heard the next. The outer kitchen
door burst open with the blast
from the first bomb and from the
blackness of dust and flying
rubble the missing member OF
our habitat, the Raj officer, came
crawling over the doorstep. He
had been on his way home when
the fun started. i peered round