WITH the approach to the commemoration of D-day it may be apposite to express the memories of those of junior years but still valid.

I was no more than 20 months old in June 1944 and there is a view that those of that tender age cannot have memories. in retrospect I can say that such memories can exist and persist through the medium of great fear or of pleasure.

I was in my pushchair on what was then "Fortes Corner" at the Kings Statue. St Thomas Street was two way as was the Westham Road and no barriers. I remember the banshee sound of sirens approaching and the cessation of movement on pavements and my pushchair was on the pavement edge.

Then it started. The wail of the sirens came from what I now know as motorcycle outriders that swept past within a couple of feet of me. Then came the roar of huge lorries that were the big American 6 wheelers and the roar and rattle of the half tracks. The worst was to come.

Round the Statue came the rattle and roar of big tracked vehicles which I now know as Sherman tanks which manoeuvred round the corner within feet of me parked on the pavement. To this day I cannot bear to be near a moving tank. This must have been the build up to D-Day as the convoy was on its way to Portland. I also remember beside Holly Road was a bomb-site where there was a huge barrage balloon which from my pushchair resembled a huge animal with massive ears and snout.(fins!)

On the other side of the coin were the trips to Dorchester on the train and in Woolworths could be provided for good boys candy jungle animals that were not on rationing. Why the Dorchester Woolies God only knows but they were nowhere else.

I remember the Mickey Mouse gas masks and the suffocating smell of rubber and the Anderson shelter under the table with the grey red edged blanket.

I have checked these memories with relatives who confirmed them

A.P.Taylor Wheatlands

Portland