World War II Bomb Attacks in Waterloo

A PENSIONER has told of his memories of bomb attacks in Waterloo during World War II.
Robert Routledge, of Hyde Road, has responded to a Memories appeal that appeared in the Crosby Herald on October 2.
The appeal was made by Burdett Road resident, Wayne Kelly, who was looking for information about the attacks.
He has submitted a photograph of one of the holes in the railway bridge at the end of his road, which he thought may have been made by machine guns.
Robert, who lived in Somerville Grove as a child during the war, said the holes were actually caused by shrapnel from an exploded bomb.
He said: "It was definitely a bomb.
"The bomb landed in the garden on the other side of the road.
"It landed in the middle of the grass - I was only a kid at the time."

He recalls that there were also explosions in Somerville Road as well as Sweden Street and how dairy farm cows were killed.
Shops in a section of St John's Road were also virtually obliterated and the roof was ripped off his own home.
Robert said: "The big thing to do then was collect shrapnel.
"I found a big piece of shrapnel and mine had a German Eagle and I swapped it with a mate of mine for a tea chest full of straw, which had mice in it."
He also found an unexploded incendiary bomb while he was playing on the beach in Waterloo with friends.
They wanted to polish it and took it to Brooke Motors, where they asked to use a vice.
The owner was unaware they had a magnesium bomb but luckily caught them before they managed to open it with a wrench.
Robert said: "He came walking down the stairs and nearly had palpitations.
"We could have burned the place down - talk about health and safety."
Les Thomas, who lived in Sweden Street at the time and now lives in Mount Pleasant in Waterloo, also confirmed the railway bridge was attacked by enemy planes.
That night he was sheltering with his family in the communal air raid shelters in Ropers Field near the railway.
He said: "The following morning my three brothers and myself walked along the cinder track looking for shrapnel and noticed the shell holes in the bridges structures.
"Also, we found fragments of the shells."