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In 1939 I was living in the village of Mount Sherborne. I had left school and, as I was a boy scout, I was given duties in the Civil Defense Unit. One of these duties was ‘bomb watch’. At the age of 14, I was sent to Sherborne St John. I had a small office and a telephone. My instructions were — should bomb s land I was to inspect the damage and report by telephone to Basingstoke HQ. Being a rather cheeky 14-year-old boy, I asked the question: ‘What would I do if the phone lines were blown down by a bomb?’. The reply was: ‘Get on your bike and ride to Basingstoke’. The distance was about four miles.

We were fully trained to deal with incendiary bombs and we were equipped with steel helmet — not a military one, much to my disappointment — but more the style of a fireman’s helmet in shape. The purpose of this helmet was to protect against falling shrapnel. We were near Basingstoke, which was a prime target because it was near a railway junction.

15 bombs landed within the precinct of my village, Mount Sherborne. These were small bombs — 250lbs. Their purpose was to break the morale of the people. The entire woodland was packed with munitions. We didn’t know if the Germans knew about this so there was a battery of 4.7 anti-aircraft guns close by. As boys, we knew every British and German aircraft in silhouette.

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