Caleb
by
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The scene was one of complete devastation and looked as though a large hammer had fallen from the sky and crushed the houses and other buildings. People were standing around some crying quietly and others just staring at the scene with blank pallid faces. I saw a young girl sitting on an upturned bathtub with her head in her hands. At that moment an explosion shook the ground and a blinking flash bathed everything in white light. I was thrown to the ground and felt almost annoyed that I had not kept my feet. As I looked about I noticed that some of the firemen had also been knocked to the ground. I didn’t feel so bad about myself after seeing this. I suddenly realized that the young girl was not sitting on the upturned bathtub. I jumped to my feet ran over to where I had last seen her. She was lying on the ground face down. I looked at the small body and fear gripped me. I slowly bent down and touched her on the left shoulder. "Can you hear me?" I asked. For a few moments there was no reply and then she slowly turned her head and looked up at me. "Can you move without pain?" I said. She moved to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes as though she had just awakened "I think I’m alright, but I have a dreadful ringing in my ears and dust in my eyes," she said. The feeling of relief was such that I sat down on the ground next to her. "My name is Harry." I said. She looked at me and smiled. "My name is." Before she could tell me a loud voice yelled, "You kids, are you OK! Cos if you are get the hell out of here cos there are some more unexploded bombs over here." I looked at the man and saw that he was a policeman. I jumped to my feet and pulled the girl to her feet. "Come on," I said, "hold my hand and I’ll help you to a safer place." I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the end of the street where there was an ambulance and several people were standing. I did not realize what I had done until we reached the group of people standing near the ambulance. "Come here boy." Yelled the driver. I walked over to him and stood in front of him. "Yes sir," I said looking up at him. He smiled and said, "You got guts kid, I saw what you did and that takes a lot of guts." He looked at the young girl and said, "Are you alright Miss?" The girl had tears running down her face and was sobbing quietly. "Sir, I don’t know where my family is and I think they are still in the house. She pointed to the heap of rubble that had been her house. All of the people standing there fell absolutely silent and as I looked at the girl I felt so sad that tears filled my eyes so that she became just a blur. As I looked at her I began to realize that the war I had used as an amusement pastime was a very real entity. It destroyed lives and homes. It changed some people’s character forever. It left scars and heartache. It disfigured and maimed. The whole world would be a different place. The only bright light at the end of this dark damp tunnel was the fact that right would win in the end and hopefully the human race would be better for this bad experience. The young girl was very pretty and I had not even noticed this before now. I walked to her and gave her a hug as she stood there shaking and crying. "Please don’t cry," I said. "You are so pretty and the tears make marks down your cheeks." She looked at me and smiled that beautiful smile again. "Thank you Harry, you have been so nice to me and thank you for pulling me away from harm." I felt myself blush and to cover up my embarrassment I started to talk about the bomb that exploded while we stood at the site. I noticed that there were people sitting in the ambulance and this seemed strange to me. I always imagined that people in ambulances were lying on stretchers. The ambulance driver asked the young girl to go and sit in the ambulance and I watched her climb in the open door and sit next to a pale woman who was covered in dust and her face was almost black with soot. As the young girl sat down, the pale looking woman looked up and suddenly jumped to her feet. She gave a very loud scream and leapt off the back of the ambulance. "Oh! Stevie," she yelled and ran up to me and grabbed me around the neck with both arms. She hugged me so hard that I could hardly breathe. I fought to get free but I couldn’t move. The ambulance driver had to force her to let go telling her that I was not her Stevie. The woman sobbed and shook profusely as she was led back to the ambulance. The driver shut the door and came over to me to see if I was OK! "Don’t be scared kid," he said, "she thinks you are her son that just got killed in the last raid. I’ll have to get her to the hospital as soon as possible cos she needs medication or something."
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About the Book
This book imparts the experiences of a wartime child and tells of the fears and horrors of life in England during W.W.II. Daily bombing attacks left ordinary people wondering why this was all happening to them, but they learned to cope and survive. Many of these people lost all of their worldly possessions and were bewildered and confused as to what the future had to bring. The breakup of families should never be taken lightly and the effects of broken marriages will always have a profound adverse effect on children. The experiences of this young boy shows how a child looked at the war, and what it was like to be both loved and hated by the people that surrounded him. The complex and sometimes cruel nature of people, in what to him were highly trusted positions in our society, would dog him throughout life. His naiveté would sometimes be his downfall and then sometimes it would be his success. His friendship with a dying boy would transform his life and give him hope for the future. His need to be loved and wanted were paramount to him. He tried to fit in wherever he could. Each time he became attached to someone he would eventually be separated from him or her. Life does not always have a happy ending for a child and most bad memories do not ‘go away‘.
About the Author
His first recollection of life was the savage air raids by the Germans on London England during W.W.II. The War, growing up in children's homes, and a broken marriage had a profound effect on him. He had to learn to adapt to the horrors of war, family separation and being institutionalized. He was part of a large, poor family and was eventually put in a children's home for displaced kids and faced many hardships. He also made many beloved friends. He served in the Royal Navy and found that he could fend for himself. Later in life he became an industrial/production engineer, married a wonderful woman and raised a family consisting of a son and daughter. He never forgot his roots and wants to pass his early experiences on to his three lovely grandchildren. This is his story.