Dallinger/Dallinger

That evening they came after sunset. I was seeing the Bothams away by evening train. You will remember that there was a very good train that was kept on during the war. Being the last Friday in August there was an enormous crowd going back to town, and the usual seaside crowd seeing them off. The platform was packed with people, and it was with great difficult that we forced our way along to the front of the train. Here I found seats for the Bothams in a carriage which already contained 7 people and a wonderful assortment of paraphernalia, pails, spades, etc. I remember that evening I was feeling more than usually indignant at th brutality of war, and the innocent unconcern of even the children's toys annoyed me beyond measure. It was a weird evening, oppressively hot, and a brown mist hung over the marshes retaining some of the tints of the sunset. I turned from the carriage, and as there was still 10 minutes to spare I walked down the platform and on to the rails. It was at that moment that I heard the shriek of the siren over the town. In an instant the crowd was all confusion, a hundred children cried dismally around me. I was terribly frightened, for there was no place of safety to go, and there seemed nothing to be done. I had never felt like this before in any previous raid. Then I heard the far-off drone of the engines and that forced me to action. I forced my way back to the carriage where I had left Mrs Botham and Jack and found them sitting alone, though the carriage was still strewn with the oddments that had annoyed me so much previously. I suggested that we should take cover on the lee of the embankment and to this they agreed, so we went along the line a little way and dropped to the ditch below the embankment. As we ran I heard the first report of the explosions on the marshes beyond Frillby, but as yet I could see nothing. As soon as my party reached their half-shelter, I crawled up to the top of the bank and peered over. At that moment I saw 4 columns of smoke rise in front of me, parallel to the railway, right opposite us. Almost immediately came the reports, heavy and shattering. "Lie low", I cried to the party, and we crouched to the ground, and I know that I covered my face with my hands. The drone of the engines increased to a roar as the machines passed right over us. But in the twilight nothing could be seen. Those 20 seconds of waiting seemed an eternity. Then, to my intense relief, I heard a second report, far louder than the first. At least the bomb had not fallen right on us. Small pieces sang through the air. I turned to the others but found that they too were safe.