大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Judie Krebs for GMR Action Desk on behalf of Graham Hanmer with his permission. The author is fully aware of the site's terms and Conditions.

Dad volunteered for the RAF when he was 40 years old. He'd been a bantam weight Lancashire amateur boxing champion before turning professional. He became a Physical Training Instructor with the RAF although he could have gone into provisions because he was a commercial traveller dealing in groceries (for George Little Ltd in Manchester city centre). While he was working for Little's, he was driving when they blitzed Manchester and he drove all the way back to Crewe. That was the trigger which made him join up. Thomas Hanmer was his name and my mother, Florence, kept his job going right through the war, but she had to travel by train because she couldn't drive.

My brother Des, who was eight years older than me, could never understand why Dad volunteered because of leaving us as a family without a father. And he thought he should have gone into Provisions bedause he would have got a commission.

Another reason why Dad joined up was that he was two years too young to be in the First World War. His brother Jack came through WW1 unscathed and he was commissioned in the field.

Dad's younger brother Sam was a scientist working on the atomic bomb. It was so hush-hush that the family never found out who he was working for, but we do know that he became a lieutenant in the American forces. He died of radiation burns around the age of 50.

I followed Dad's example later on - I went into the RAF for my National Service and went into air traffic control. I should have stayed there!

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