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When I was with 403 Searchlight Battery, part of my service during WW2 was spent on the Isle of Wight. We were stationed near Freshwater and I recall some lively evenings spent in a local pub in the company of other soldiers from as far afield as Canada. Sometimes things got a bit too lively and the SM or MPs had to come along and sort things out!

Some thought that working on the searchlights was dangerous, I took it in my stride as ‘part of my job’. However, there was one evening I will never forget. Things were getting rather busy up in the skies above my head, when suddenly I realized that a bomb had been dropped and was heading my way.

What happened next was that the bomb scored a direct hit — not fortunately an accurate one, on my station — but a direct hit on a cow in the next field! I guess you could say that was one of my lucky days!

This story was submitted to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by Kaye Larkins on behalf of Mr Edward Windeatt and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Windeatt fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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