- Contributed by听
- Bournemouth Libraries
- People in story:听
- R.A. Oliver
- Background to story:听
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:听
- A5651228
- Contributed on:听
- 09 September 2005
Three days after war was declared I became 18 years of age.
At the beginning of 1940 I volunteered for service in the RAF, was called up and put on reserve. Whilst waiting to go for training I did all manner of things for the defence against invasion. I helped build concrete pill boxes along the River Avon and surrounding area, dug out unexploded bombs with the bomb disposal boys, worked on building Blandford Army Camp and laying out Ibsley Airfield. Billeted at Millbrook in Southampton, I worked at an oil refinery near Fawley bricking up around the storage tanks. From there onto Barton Stacey Army Camp between Andover and Winchester, experiencing air-raids at Fawley and Southampton. River bridges were mined and ready to blow up if we were invaded.
Having now returned home as my call up papers had arrived, we had an air-raid. High explosive and incendiary bombs set alight hay ricks and heathlan, strafed by enemy planes whilst trying to put out the fires.
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