Isobel Hennigan, of Skipton North Yorkshire, for her parents George and Cecilia Roberts
My parents were Coventrians and were in the city on the night of the total devastation.
My lovely mum was in a shelter which had a direct hit and mum was the only lady survivor, being rescued after being buried under tons of rubble for six hours, leaving her with a fractured spine and her left arm almost severed in two by shrapnel.
She had with her, her three children, James, aged eight, Pamela, aged six, and John, aged 11 months. John like mum was buried for many hours resulting in him being epileptic. Unfortunately James and Pamela were like so many others and lost their young lives.
Dad, who was on fire watch, was unaware of the situation for some time. Mum often talked about the experiences she had, her friends, the friendship that was there, the sharing of whatever little there was, but dad was not as forthcoming, and remained quieter on the subject.
It was not until after dad’s death that an older relative told us how dad had walked the streets after that fateful night looking for, and finally finding the bodies of his two little ones, to find that Pamela had lost both her legs. Dad felt that mum had suffered enough without knowing this and, therefore, kept this dreadful secret to himself.
Mum told us how she held onto a man also trapped until he slipped away telling him ‘Don’t worry there'll always be an England’. We believe that the man who rescued mum and John was given the George Cross.
She also told us how one night they were rushing to a shelter when a young woman arrived and my gran asked where her baby was ‘Oh, I forgot it’, she said and my gran, being the old tyrant that she was, sent her back for it and you didn’t argue with gran. Both mum and baby arrived back safe and sound.
After the end of the war mum dad and John moved up to the Yorkshire Dales with the Rover Company although Coventry was always home. John eventually married and returned to live in his place of birth, only to have a seizure and die at the age of 32.
We have always felt a closeness to Coventry and can never imagine how much was suffered by the brave people, God bless them and their memories.