My family -- My town -- My home -- No money to burn -- My boring chores -- Keeping the lights on -- The games we played -- Scrimping and scrumping -- Christmas -- War. Strangers among us -- The fur glove caper -- Distress and family stress -- Testing the Three Musketeers -- Germans Blitz London -- My mask -- Bomber attacks Bedford -- Heading for the shelters -- Bedford attacked -- Alert. Alert. My hideous siren suit -- Field trip surprise -- Air wars -- Ploughing for porridge and potatoes -- Home Guard formed -- My sister becomes my mother -- A new home/ a new start -- America attacked! -- The rag and bone man comes calling -- The pretty little lights -- The day after -- Defiant dinky curlers -- Balloon battalion over Bedford -- Death on our doorstep -- And then there were two -- Our Americans -- D-Day! -- Desperate Germans are dangerous -- Dad gets one job/gives up another -- First "real" Christmas -- Germany surrenders -- After the war -- Brian -- Pat -- Norma.
Summary:
Be immersed in the daily life of a total war through the childhood memories of Norma Thoeming, who grew up in England during the Blitz and shares about growing up with her two siblings under unusual circumstances. It wasn't until she began providing information for this book in her later years in the Quad Cities, that Norma truly processed the trauma of her childhood. Through short anecdotes, former television news anchor Gary Metivier recounts Norma's story from gas masks as school supplies to watching a terrifying kind of light show at night.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.