麻豆官网首页入口

I was in Norwich in 1941 when the city was bombed. I lived in Fordham with my aunt, Bessie English, at the time. As the sirens went we saw the orange glow in the sky over the city. Next morning she had to take goods into the market and we had to criss cross over all the water pipes. There were thousands of incendiary bombs along the road which had not expolded.
I went back to Homefield Road, Hunstanton to my parents home - we were bombed out there in the one raid on the town. Another bomb fell on the slaughter house and others on the road. I was a member of the auxilliary fire service at that time. I eventually found my uniform at the bottom of the garden, still hanging on the back door which had been blown off its hinges. I was 17 then. When I went to do my duty at the fire station I was sent home to look after my mother. We had to move to Austin Street, Hunstanton, where we stayed until the end of the war.
I was called up in 1942 and went to Bury St Edmunds for six weeks training. My first posting was to Blackpool, I was sent to the wrong regiment and posted AWOL. My mother was very worried as she did not know where I was. I did a driving course and learned to drive cars, tanks, everything.
Then I went to Kingston on Thames to train as a wireless operator and technician - I found this very interesting and got to 22 words per minute which meant extra pay!
Next I was off to Scotland and was continually on the move. One was to Tory Point, Aberdeen an observation post. Then Inverness to Lord Lovatt's Castle (Beaulieu) - I saw highland dancing there.
My next location was Market Harborough before Aldershot for troop clerk training which meant being able to ride a motorcycle. Not long before I was off again to Usk, Wales for a time.
In 1943 I went to Romney Marsh, Kent where we shot down several doodle bugs - I was in the heavy Ack Ack division then.
D Day came and we had to board the landing barges to go to France. After landing we followed the front to Belgium and again I was busy with communications wiring - there weren't many of us which is why we were constantly on the move. One interesting moment was taking a squad of men (about 30) on a train to the front line (German/Belgian) where there were prisoners behind a barbed wire compound. They were all loaded into cattle trucks (about 150 of them ) with only 30 of us to travel with them in a single coach to Ostend. There they were handed over to the Belgian Army for transportation to South Africa.
Next I went to Arnheim and as we went over the bridge all the parachutes were still hanging in the trees. What a frightening sight.
Then we followed the line to Osnabruck and then Hambourg. Always on the move doing the communications work. Next I was sent to the Hartzburg Mountains where the Hitler Youth had a barracks which we used for our accommodation. We could look down and see clouds below us, just like being in an aircraft!
Then back to Hambourg and on to Cuxhaven by tank and then Berlin. Outside Berlin the train slowed down, I was smoking a pipe at the time, the train jolted and shot it out of my mouth. A German on the platform picked it up and put it in his own mouth and waved his thanks! On reaching Berlin we were accommodated in the Olympic Stadium.
When it had all finished I was selected for the Victory Parade in London in 1945..

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.