大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the site by the 大象传媒's Peoples War Team in the East Midlands with Douglas Owens permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

On VE Day I was stationed on a dyke, completely surrounded by water after the Germans had retreated and flooded the area. It was near Domburg, on Walcheren Island in Holland. Our HQ was at Middelburg and our only means of transport was an amphibian duck boat, in which we sailed at roof level.

This did not stop my fellow RAF Radar Unit colleagues and me, celebrating the day, as we had built a bar and managed to obtain supplies of beer from Antwerp. As I had worked for the local brewery Everards before the war, I ran the bar.

It was a wonderful day and we held a good party, with some Dutch friends and Norwegian troops who were guarding us as the Germans were still on the next island.

Our operation was to control 2 Beaufighters that were attacking the German 2-man submarines in the area. In fact I understand that my unit, Mobile CHL Radar Unit No 15129, was the first RAF unit to land in Europe after D-day as we disembarked at Port en Bessin in Normandy on the 8th June 1945. We broke through from there and raced towards Brussels before finishing up in Holland. My service continued until being demobbed in 1946 in North Africa, Persia, India, and Hong Kong.

My wife, who I had met in January 1945 after being a pen pal for 6 months (complements of my comrade, her brother), celebrated VE-day outside the gates of Buckingham Palace as she was a Londoner and had gone through the blitz, including being bombed out. She has some vivid memories of that day outside the Palace.

We have lived in Leicester since we married in 1947 and I continued to work for Everards Brewery until I retired in 1986.

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