Wernher Von Braun : I aim for the Stars - but sometimes I just hit little kiddies
It happened precisely at 6:44 pm on September 8th 1944 - marking the tragic start to today's much celebrated Space Age.
(Chiswick in my old stomping ground of West London and so I must have passed by this street a half dozen times.
But in 1970-1972 when I lived in the area for a total of almost a year, exploring most of it on foot, there were no signs of wartime damage left and seemingly no plaques up marking the spots of the worst tragedies.)
Rosemary was born in 1941, thus she is definitely part of the millions of baby boomers born during WWII but because she and hundreds of thousands like her died during the war or in its immediate aftermath, she is not part of my postwar transitional generation of youngsters.
Boomer kid first victim of the Space Age
Her slightly older brother saw her lifeless body totally unmarked, for she had died from loss of oxygen from the direct effects of the massive rocket blast.
She probably didn't suffer - but many other little boomers-to-be did .
They starved and froze to death slowly as 1944 -1947 Europe had far too little food or fuel or good housing to go around and vulnerable young ones and the elderly were, as always, the worst hit.
Historical accuracy demands we bring these sad facts forward to temper the widespread view of boomer kids all having it free and easy.
If only that was so - if only that will ever be so ....
