Aerial Attack! I was returning from one of these field trips [gleaning from fields] when we heard strange noises coming from the sky. Everyone ran into the street, shading their eyes to have a good look at the flying machines. No one though of the danger.
I was almost in our front yard, carrying my share of the potatoes, when a deafening sound went off, followed by a loud hissing noise, Then with a tremendous thud some object plowed into the earth. I was all alone, very near to where this took place. I was stunned and looked all around me. Everyone had disappeared, everyone had run for cover. In my fright I had forgotten the direction of our house! I was still holding on to the potatoes when I heard my mother's frantic voice yelling to me. I dropped the potatoes and ran to hear. The shrapnel had fallen a short distance from where I was standing and made a huge crater but it didn't explode.
Editor's Notes: Dorothy describes an aerial bomb that did not explode, a dud. Had it detonated, shrapnel --flying fragments-- would have resulted.
