大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Margaret Walsh of The Royal Star and Garter Home on behalf of Robert Hay and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was a Sergeant Engineer on Spitfires, but because the RAF knew I was a musician, I spent a lot of time during the war playing the organ too.

I was privileged to play in some wonderful cathedrals. I had two years in Italy - I loved the Italians; they treated me like a son. I played in Venice, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal, and St Mark's. What a feeling that was, to follow in the footsteps of Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Scarlatti. I also played in Pompeii Cathedral after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As I was driving there, the lava was flowing down the hillside, and the village of San Sebastiano was enveloped. Our windscreen was black from the lava. I remember that I played Bach's Toccata and Fugue. There was a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral, covered in jewels. Playing there was the icing on the cake.

When I got to Bologna I was badly burnt. I was holding an oil-stained rag near the fire, and accidentally kicked over a five-gallon petrol drum, and the oil splashed all over my body. I was in the RAF hospital on the edge of Mount Vesuvius. When I was beginning to improve, I got an ovation in the Sergeants' Mess for attempting to play a Chopin Polonaise on the piano with my hands covered in bandages.

My last posting was in Khartoum in the Sudan, and I played in the Cathedral at the enthronement of the newly-appointed Bishop of Sudan. All the other denominations were represented. I remember that it was a normal service, but I had to transpose all the music into the key of F.

I would have become a Flight Sergeant, but after the war I left the RAF to concentrate on my music.

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