Bombs away

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An ear splitting boom and she went blind. My Great Grandmother Augusta Mascilli had experienced one of most potentially life ending events that could have happened in her life at the meager age of thirteen. My great grandmother Augusta lived in the city of Dinant, Belgium before moving to America. At this time the First World War was underway and the Germans had already taken advantage of her town. She lived in that town with her parents and her sister Ida along with anywhere from three to ten troops that would be stationed at her house. It had been a mouth or so since the Mascilli family had their home invaded by the German Army. As well as cooking for them and supplying a place for them to stay they also had to accommodate anywhere from three to ten people at any one time. The Germans were using their house for a station to broadcast radio signals. Although the Germans invaded their house they still treated the family with respect and dignity. Aside from the odd circumstances the two girls were just as ordinary and pleasant as everybody else. The small wooden home was on the beautiful Belgium country side. At this time Augusta and Ida were two years apart. Augusta being 13 at the time and Ida was 11 years old. Everyday the two sisters would wake up and head straight to the clothing store which the family owned to help with washing and mending the clothes. They wouldn’t walk to work, but rather ride to the store on Adrian’s three wheeler. Adrian was one of the solders stationed at their house. Even though Adrian was one of the men who took their privacy he gave Augusta and Ida a ride to work everyday. Even though they spoke different languages and where on opposing sides of the war they grew on each ... ... middle of paper ... ...m down safely on the grass he checked to see if they where ok and ran back inside. From the front lawn the only thing the two girls could see was their home surrounded in smoke and a massive gaping hole in the roof. After a while or so their parents emerged from the house, then trying to comfort the frightened sobbing children. Later, closer to sunset they went to inspect the house and found the object that had fallen from the sky. It was a large metallic cylinder. It so happened that it was a bomb dropped from an Allied Bomber that failed to detonate after crashing through the roof, first floor and was now resting in the basement. I was told the family’s biggest worry was each other and they felt so lucky to be alive. I wasn’t able to meet my Great Grandmother to hear the story first hand however this story was quite an event in my family history.

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