- Contributed byÌý
- Wymondham Learning Centre
- People in story:Ìý
- Geoffrey Little
- Location of story:Ìý
- -on-Sea, Bury St Edmunds, Hyderabad, India
- Background to story:Ìý
- Civilian
- Article ID:Ìý
- A4281220
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 27 June 2005
I listened to my father talking about his experiences in the A.R.P., when he was at home and after his return from India.
My father, Edward Little, was deputy A.R.P. officer for Southend-on-Sea. He had a maroon helmet because of his rank and drove a Vauxhall car. He had a special petrol allowance, but kept to the rules, and the rest of the family were not allowed in the car.
He was sent to Bury St. Edmunds in the early 1940s for further training as an instructor. My father was then sent to Calcutta to instruct the Indians. The headquarters for this operation was the Nizam of Hyderabad’s palace — a far cry from Bury St. Edmunds.
I was six at the beginning of the war. On one occasion, while in bed, I heard a flying bomb coming and leapt out of bed and ran to the window. Leaning out too far, I almost feel, but my mother rushed in and saved me — the nearest brush with death I had.
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