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Yep, that’s me at Cuttyhunk Lighthouse and I think the year was 1944, and yes, that’s a bomb, a WWII one. I’m on our little pier on the West End Pond with the Gosnold Monument behind me. The bomb? Well, the Navy from Newport, Rhode Island, would fly nightly over Cuttyhunk for bombing practice on Noman’s Land Island,(a.k.a. No Man’s Land) not too far away.
We just happened to be having a beach party down at “our” little beach, a birthday party that was to be remembered forever due to the circumstances – we had a cake and lobsters boiling, as well as clams, potatoes, corn – the whole deal. “Uncle Gene” and my cousin Connie Carver both had the same-day birthdays and this one was special.
It got dark and we were eating well, enjoying the cool of the evening and singing Happy Birthday when the nightly overflight came over and BAZAAM. We, WE, I am saying, not Noman’s Land, we were being bombed. We scattered like roaches! We grabbed the cake, with sand all over it, and went running for our dear lives up to the lighthouse where my father ran up the tower and aimed two flashlights at the planes, (which continued to come over) and cursed like I had never ever heard him curse before, saying, I think, “Those buzzards are bombing MY lighthouse.” (Maybe he didn’t say buzzards.)
The bombardment continued for a while, and then we saw the planes make a quick right turn back to Rhode Island. Well, BIG MISTAKE by the Navy. We had craters on the beach and all around the house. . . incredible ones. Anyway, there were several that landed in the pond and we fished them out – this is one of them. Later, the Navy ordnance people came over to pick them up, and this one – yes, this one – the one that they got last – well, it exploded as they were dumping it in the ocean.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2021 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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