- Contributed by听
- HnWCSVActionDesk
- People in story:听
- Fred Stamp
- Location of story:听
- Worthing
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A5562047
- Contributed on:听
- 07 September 2005
I was 14 and allowed to start work. I started working as a projectionist in the cinema, as a rewind boy, like an apprentice projectionist. I was working in the Dome Cinema, right on the sea front at Worthing. On the sea front there were anti aircraft guns manned by male soldiers. Also there were ATS women that worked the telescope. It was a long horizontal one. You looked into the middle of it and could see any aircraft that was coming in. If the gunners couldn't see the planes then the ATS used to direct them.
Also I used to fire watch. I wasn't on watch every night, about every 3rd night. I was on watch one night and a bomb was dropped but it didn't explode. It went underground and partly under the cinema. Everywhere was quickly evacuated. The bomb disposal people had a job getting down to it because Worthing beach is all shingles and every time they dug down it just filled back in. They had a hell of a job shoring it up, it took them a good 2 weeks to get to the bomb and at any time it may have gone off! I didn't get 2 weeks off work though. The owner had another cinema up in the town and I went to work there.
This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at 麻豆官网首页入口 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Fred Stamp and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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