The Tyneside Raider

My school was hit by a landmine meant for the docks on the Tyne. We schoolboys were very pleased at this because we couldn't go to school for about three months. We saw some action over the sea, which prompted me to write this poem when we did go back to school. I remember I was given a star and nine out of ten.

The Tyneside Raider

By Jim Trueman, aged nine

The night was cool and moonlit,

The siren's wail was heard.

So down to the shelter the citizens streamed

While overhead the searchlights beamed, 

Striving to pierce the moonlit cloud -

To spot the Hun it did enshroud.

The searchlight's beam, still probing,

Revealed the raiding Hun!

The guns rang out - the fighters appeared 

And the sky was streaked with tracers weird.

A burst from a fighter tore his tank

And he rocketed down to the sea

and sank.

© Copyright Jim Trueman

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