A Bedfordshire soldier who escaped injury in a German air raid on Ramsgate, Kent, on Sunday, March 19th, 1916, but saw children killed said: "The sight upset me more than ever I was in France."

Pte Cyril Parrish, from Gravenhurst, was in the Canadian Hospital at Ramsgate recovering from wounds sustained on active service. Writing to his parents Mr and Mrs Reuben Parrish, he said: "It is Sunday night and I have just come in from chapel after an awful day. The Germans have been here today and have dropped some bombs. One of them fell on our hospital about 2 o'clock.

"I and my chum were out for a walk and saw two 'planes over our heads, and the next minute we heard something like a shell coming down. We rushed into a house, and we had hardly got inside before a bomb came through the roof with awful force, and shattered the house a good deal.

"We were both knocked down and shaken up a bit, but otherwise not hurt. I have had a lot of near shaves in France, but that is the nearest I ever had or ever want.

"Another bomb fell higher up and killed a man and five little children who were going to Sunday school. It was, sure, a sad sight. They were blown to pieces, and it upset me more than ever I was in France."

Pte Parrish had been in Canada when war broke out and he joined the Canadian Contingent. Of his wounds sustained in France, he wrote: "My face doesn't get much better, and I am going to have my eye examined this week to see what they can do for it."

[The Luton News: Thursday, March 23rd, 1916]