Memorials & Monuments
on the Isle of Wight
- Civilian War Dead - Sandown & Shanklin -

Injury to three pedestrians, and the damaging of eight houses, through the bursting of a stray shell in Arthur's Hill, Shanklin, on Friday last, has had a tragic sequel. Mrs. Emma Mary Piper (63), of Homelands, Shanklin, who was the more seriously injured, died at the Home of rest Emergency Hospital Saturday night.

The thoughts of local residents have been sympathetically directed to the inhabitants of another Island town who experienced a heavy air raid on Sunday, in which a number of fatal casualties resulted. All who know anything of these "tip and run" raids can sympathise to the full with those who have undergone this latest example of Nazi frightfulness.
The announcement made over the air by the B.B.C. on Sunday evening that a district on the Isle of Wight had been bombed came as a surprise to many people, as on previous occasions the expression "South Coast" had been employed to describe such happenings affecting the Island. Many enquiries by telephone and telegram, from anxious relatives living on the mainland, resulted. The fact that the incident occurred on the first Sunday following the lifting of the ban on visitors to the Island was a point which was not overlooked by some of the mainland papers.

Their Majesties the King and Queen, through Lord Mottistone, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, have expressed their sympathy with the inhabitants of the place in the island which suffered in Sunday's air raid, and with the bereaved relatives and those who were removed to hospital or suffered personal loss. The message was personally conveyed by Lord Mottistone to the Chairman of the District Council concerned.
Sir Harry Haig (Regional Commissioner) and General Collins (Deputy Regional Commissioner), with Lord Mottistone, visited the stricken area on the day following the raid and met the heads of the local Civil Defence Services etc. Later they inspected the damage done.

In view of the great anxiety caused to relatives of Islanders living on the mainland upon hearing the Isle of Wight mentioned in official communiques broadcast by the B.B.C., a difference of opinion has arisen as to the wisdom of the recent departure from custom on the part of the authorities. There are probably sound arguments, both for and against the innovation, but the fact remains that the latest wording of the announcements focuses public attention - and anxiety - upon a relatively small area. Possibly more will be heard on this point before long.

Although the death-roll, alas, totalled seven, it is remarkable, in view of the nature of the attack, that the figure was not larger. Quite a number of people had most provident escapes. Despite their trying ordeal, inhabitants of the district were very brave and there was a fine spirit of comradeship in evidence. That the term "Good Samaritan" is not obsolete was proved over and over again.