大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Liz Andrew of the Lancshomeguard on behalf of Eric Harding and added to the site with his permission.

I was eleven years old when the war started and at the Boys Secondary Modern School - Highfield. There were evacuees at our school too so we were only there for half the day and our education was neglected.

I used to make a record of all air raid alerts - I wrote them down at the time and subsequently typed them up and, curiously enough, they comply with the official list, although the official list does not record incendries on Acregate on 19th october 1940.

I remember one frightening moment when incendiary bombs dropped 50 or 60 yards from where we lived on South Shore. I saw them on the ground and people running to extinguish sand on them and put them out.

The other very alarming moment was when a battery of 3.7mm anti aircraft guns situated on St Anne's Road opened fire for the first time. I had been looking south in the direction of Liverpool and suddenly a terrific barrage went up in the north . I got the shock of my life and they blew in the windows of the houses opposite the battery.

Until 1941 Blackpool had been undefended but subsequently the guns were fired on eighteen nights between February and July 1941.

I recall seeing another incident - the collision and crash of two aircraft - one came down over Central Station and the other over Reads Avenue. Three Defiants from 256 Squadron (coded JT) which was based in Blackpool had been flying in formation, when one of them hit the wing of a Blackburn Botha (which was a training aircraft). I had been looking through my bedroom window with a pair of sixpenny binoculars and saw the Defiant coming down. It spiralled down into Reads Avenue.The pilots and crew of both planes were killed and there were several casualties at Central Station including deaths.

I left school at fourteen and started work at a timber firm on Squires Gate Lane. It was very close to the Aerodrome and I saw all types of aircraft coming and going. It was a fascinating time. 256 Squadron were out on Night patrols between March 1941 and May 1942 and off course, 3406 Wellingtons were test flown from Blackpool.

I didn't qualify for military service because of my medical history but this didn't stop me from becoming a Raidspotter. I was in the 277 Blackpool Raidspotters - an organization which trained workers to look for enemy aircraft from the roofs of buildings, and avoid distraction from work.

The timber firm I worked for made netting for the War effort and also compo packs. These were the wooden boxes in which the Forces kept their food. I remember we supplied them to Thomas Parkinson, Biscuit Manufacturer in Watery Lane, Preston.

Within four weeks of starting work the secretary at the Timber Firm contracted an illness and they put me in charge of the wages. I had to do it all by hand. My own wage was just 10/- a week.

I still lived at my parents house. My father suffered from a medical condition he had contracted in the First World and he died in 1940. And in 1941 I lost my brother in an RAF raid over Denmark. He was a wireless operator/air gunner. I remember we got a telegram one Saturday morning and thought it was from him telling us he was coming home on leave. Instead it told us he was Missing - Believed Killed. My mother was devastated - and I was left as her sole stand by and support.

Three weeks later we tuned in to German Radio and listened to Lord Haw Haw's broadcast from Hamburg. He used to read out the names and numbers of servicemen who had been killed. We heard about my brother's death there. In in some ways it was a relief to know for sure. I still have the German Death Certificate of my brother, Wireless Operator/gunner Lynn Harding, 1059179.

On VE day we didn't rejoice - we had no-one coming back.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.