大象传媒

On the last inght of the Battle of Sidi-Rezegh, drafts of men were rushed out to different directions in the desert to strengthen the Royal Tank Regiment as they were having heavy casualties. Luckily I was never in one of the drafts. Instead, I was sent to join the Army Fire Brigade which was manned by men of the Royal Tank Regiment. After a few days of fire-fighting and strenuous training I was classed as a fireman. Days later, at about 2 in the morning we received a fire call to stand by as there was an air raid warning and we had to be ready. We could hear German aircraft over head. We thought that we were going to be bombed at the barracks but the Germans bombed the airfield about 2 miles away.

Apparently the first stick of bombs fell on the RAF fire station destroying it and killing all their fire fighters so the RAF called on us to help them out. When we arrived at the aerodrom we were told to report to the guard room for further instructions. The first thing to greet us was the crew of their fire brigade all stretched out, killed.

The sergeant saw us looking at the dead airmen and immediately rushed us to where the fire was and told us to get to work to get the fire under control and put out. When daylight came, everybody on the airfield was helping to clean up the mess left by the bombing. Before we left, the Air Marshall came and thanked every one of us for our work and helping them out. When everything had quietened down and finished we returned to our Fire Station and resumed our normal duties.

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