- Contributed by听
- cambsaction
- People in story:听
- Arthur Cannings
- Location of story:听
- Scotland and England
- Article ID:听
- A4515239
- Contributed on:听
- 22 July 2005
(This story was submitted to the Peoples War website by a volunteer from Radio Cambridgeshire Action Desk at the Duxford VE Day commemorations behalf of Arthur Cannings and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Cannings fully understands the site's terms and conditions).
I was on coastal command on flying boats and I joined 210 Squadron at Pembroke Dock, then we moved to Poole Harbour (we had 2 stints in Gibraltar). From there we were disbanded and then went to Oban in Scotland. We should have gone to the Far East but we ended up in the Shetlands where I was a wireless airgunner. Our normal routine would be to operate one day and then rest, then standby, then operate. We would have to be operational for up to 20 hours at a time 鈥 it was certainly tiring! After I was operational I finished up as a warrant officer in Northern Ireland and then back in Ivangordon in Scotland. I was a radar instructor at Ivangordon.
When war ended it didn鈥檛 make much of a difference. I went into Enniskillen and went for a few Guinness and a meal and more Guinness. I don鈥檛 recall a lot!
On VJ day I鈥檇 been on leave in Norwich while stationed in Ivangordon. If you were on leave on VJ Day you could stay for an extra 24 hours. I was due back so I got the train to London then Inverness. On the way back we heard the war was over but we were already on the train. When we got back to the unit 鈥 at 9 o鈥檆lock we were wanted for a unit photograph. I said 鈥渟od the photograph I鈥檓 going to bed!鈥
My older brother joined the RAF in 1937 then they converted to Wellingtons. 5 days before war broke out they crashed and burnt out. He stayed with the squadron as a wireless operator.
My younger brother did 2 tours on Lancaster鈥檚, he got the DFM. My sister joined the Wren鈥檚 where she was a cook. I often wondered how my family coped. We knew were we were at risk 鈥 but my family didn鈥檛! They must have thought we were at risk all the time. My mum wrote to us all on a weekly basis.
漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.
Recommended story
Story with photo