BOMB FALLS NEAR ST. DUNSTAN’S

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 117, 11 February 1941, Page 5

BOMB FALLS NEAR ST. DUNSTAN’S

Blinded Soldiers’ Hostel SIR lAN FRASER TELLS OF EXPERIENCE On the night of September 19 a bomb fell just outside the gate of St. Dunstan’s Headquarters. It made a crater 36 feet wide and 15 feet deep, writes ■Sir lan. Fraser, chairman of St. Dunstan’s Hostel for Blinded Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen, Regents Park, London, England. Dozens of windows in the Headquarters Office and in my house, which is next door, were blown in, and many hundreds of slates were cracked or displaced. Doors, windowframes, and plaster were damaged, and many tons of rubble, stones, bricks, and metal plastered the buildings and yard around. Nobody was hit, and nobody is any the worse, except that gas, electricity, and water supplies were affected. The former have been remedied, but we have now all been without water for some days, and it looks as if this will continue for another week or two, but it is wonderful what you can do with a few buckets of water.

My wife and I and our staff live in ■the house next door to headquarters, and we were there on this occasion. St. Dunstaners may be interested in our experiences. Let me say at once that we are not the only ones for many St. Dunstaners have had a much worse crash than we experienced, and we were very lucky. Some of the staff were in the air-raid shelter, the door of which was 33 feet from the crater. Its door was splintered to pieces and sucked out by the intense vacuum which follows an explosion. The people inside experienced a few minutes of extreme anxiety, because they did not know whether they were hurt or not, or whether the roof might come down. But luckily all was well, and they suffered only from a bit of nervous shock. The air-raid shelter in which my wife and I werg sleeping was about 90 feet from the bomb crater, and our experience was as follows: — Experience Described. 1 happened to be awake and was standing outside the shelter, having a cigarette. Two or three bombs dropped. but I could hear by the noise they made coming down that they were some distance away. Old soldiers will remember that when we heard a longdistance shell, after a split second or two we could tell whether it was coming on our line or not. It is much the same with bombs —if the whistling noise remains more or less constant you can be sure the bomb is at any rate two or three hundred yards away, possibly more. If, on the other hand, the bomb is really dropping on to you. or very near to von. you are immediately aware that the whistling noise is getting rapidly louder. These were not. screaming bombs —I have not heard one nearby—but ordinary high explosive bombs, which make a whistling rather like a shell approaching you, and a little like the swish of a rocket. I threw away my cigarette and went

into the shelter, sitting on the step with the door open. Then I heard this bomb coming down, and immediately recognized that it was coming near. The whistling, sizzling noise increased terrifically as the bomb drew nearer. I had time to wake up my wife, tell her to put her fingers in her mouth, which is a good way of ensuring that the mouth is open to protect the ears, and to shut the door of the shelter. If you really hear the bomb as I did from the time it leaves the aeroplane it is surprising how long it takes to come down. I think a bomb falls at 150 miles an hour, whereas sound travel at about 700 miles an hour, so that the noise comes well in advance of the missile. One of St. Dunstan’s buildings was between us and the bomb, so that we did not receive the direct blast, but it was sufficient to shake the whole shelter and fill it with dust. Apart from this we had no other experience except that of anxiety, followed by relief. A second or two after the explosion a large quantity of rubble and other debris came down on the shelter. Distinguisliing Different Noises. The interesting thing about this is that we, and all the others concerned, are less apprehensive now than we were before. 1 think the unknown is always worse than the known. Another thing which lessens anxiety is the power to discriminate the noise of bombs and the noise of anti-aircraft guns. After a little experience you get to know the difference. 1 am sure it is well worth while everybody studying this, because a lot of needless worry is caused by ignorance as to which noise is which.

Of course, if you are really smashed up, or if those near and dear to you are smashed up. the psychological effect, may be different. But if you have what, they call a ‘‘near miss” the effect seems to be to put up morale and make you feel better afterward. I believe that this personal experience will be found to be the same as that of scores of thousands of Londoners who, as the days of bombardment continue, become more and more used to it. and less and less worried about it.

A number of St. Dunstaners have bad nasty experiences, part of their houses being blown down, and there is no doubt that at the moment of the crash it must be very unpleasant Indeed. All the world is admiring London for the way it is sticking this aerial bombardment, and I cannot write 100 highly of the hundreds of blinded soldiers who are remaining in London carrying on With their daily work as craftsmen, telephone o|>erator.s. masseurs, and so on. St. Dunstaners all over the Empire and in the quieter parts of the United Kingdom will offer them, congratulations and wisli them good luck