大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Helen Hughes, of the People's War team in Wales, on behalf of Edgar Lloyd and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I worked in the coal mines during the war鈥 was an engineer 鈥� I started as a surveyor and became an engineer. My war experience was limited to civil life I was in the Home Guard 鈥� of course you had to join the Home Guard 鈥� but I did have a very brief fleeting glimpse of a German plane.

I was on holiday in Torquay in August 1942 and the chap who eventually became my brother-in-law was with me and one day he said lets take out a boat and do some fishing. We were in a rowing boat鈥�.and the harbour is under quite a steep headland, and as we were passing through the harbour entrance we looked up and there were some torpedo tubes fixed torpedo tubes with torpedoes sticking out of them鈥�.and as we said 鈥渓ook at those torpedoes鈥� there was 鈥淏uh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh鈥� and a German plane - a fighter came swooping down from behind that headland and fired a burst of machine gun fire - over our heads of course, we were in shelter - and flew across Torbay and then dropped a bomb, probably going for Brixham where the fishing boats were. But it all happened so suddenly that we thought 鈥渨hat are we going to do? What shall we do?鈥� and my brother in law said we鈥檇 better jump overboard鈥�.and I said 鈥淲e can鈥檛 jump overboard I鈥檝e a ten shilling note in my pocket!鈥� 鈥� it鈥檚 the mad things you say鈥n circumstances like that! That was really the only time I saw or heard anything at all. I was a very lucky chap.

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