´óÏó´«Ã½

Staffs County Council libraries, on behalf of the author, have submitted this story. The author fully understands the rules and regulations of the People's War website.

On 20 April 1941 from WREN Headquarters, we realised HMS Drake was the target. I eventually arrived at Casualty Office to utter tragedy. Five bombs had straddled the huge dormitory of the PO’s Mess. My own office block opposite, was full of debris and glass. During the morning, tarpaulins were laid out by the parade ground and by noon, dozens of bodies were being recovered. Identification was difficult, for many men were in night-clothes.
I suppose many men had slipped on greatcoats. One young sailor was identified by the tag on his coat. Dozens of telegrams went to next of kin and eventually, later on, our Casualty Office WREN’S stood and watched as the sad procession of gun carriages, draped in Union Jacks, left HMS Drake, some to Weston Mill cemetery.
Two or three days later, a very distressed sailor came to tell us that he had stood and watched his own funeral! When his mail was marked ‘deceased,’ he knew something was wrong. His own relatives had travelled from the North and he must have watched them as they passed by him, behind one of the gun carriages.
It eventually transpired that his greatcoat had been stolen a couple of weeks before and the thief had had been wearing it on that dreadful night when Boscawen block was bombed. So somewhere in Weston Mill cemetery Devonport lies a sailor in an unmarked grave. Casualty Office never found out who he was.

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