It was with great interest that I read your news item on the heritage page Residents recall a bomb blast tragedy' (Croydon Guardian, June 29).
Being the same age as Bernard Sumner, the events of wartime Croydon bring back some old memories.
There was the Blitz of 1940 and then in 1944 came the Doodlebugs and all the horror that goes with war.
However, as Joan Crabb recalls there was a great sense of comradeship.
My family was bombed out twice living in Pridham Road East in Thornton Heath.
The first time was in 1940 during an early morning air raid when the whole family was sleeping together on the floor.
As the bomb whistled down, my dad who was just about to leave the house for work, threw himself across all of us to protect us from the blast of the bomb which fell in the road outside our front door.
His actions probably saved our lives.
My dad, who was a soldier in the First World War fighting in France, died in 1949 at the age of 52 from chronic nephritis, and I believe that the two world wars took its toll on his health, like many others.
When the war ended in 1945 there was this great feeling of elation and freedom for all the unsung heroes and my dad was one of them. We shall remember them.
Donald Mayle
Gordon Crescent
Croydon
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