大象传媒

Just one member of the Gallant Auxiliary Fire Service

Fireman "Bill" Wilson.

A lot of men who were too old or not suitable for the armed services, anxious to "do their bit" joined one of the auxillary services. In this case it was the AFS.

Our father was quite experienced in the driving of very heavy lorries in the 1930's he drove heavy tankers of sugar syrup from the Tate and Lyle refinery in London鈥檚
Silvertown alongside the river Thames to the production plant in Liverpool. He drove solid tyred Scammell lorries which were one of the few heavy goods vehicles of the
time and were reputed to be 鈥渢he beasts 鈥� of the time to handle, so throwing around a fire engine as was often necessary was relatively easy for him. Most men of the
time were only drivers of small cars and appeared to be intimidated by the weight and length of a fire truck , most of the trucks had an escape ladder mounted on the back
of them which made the truck seem a lot bigger. If it had wheels and went on the road, dad could surely cope with it. Dad was one of the very very few with a Heavy
Goods Vehicle license. and was of course welcomed as a driver by the fire service when he joined the Auxiliary Service .
He started training in 1938, I used to go with him to the local council depot in Fulbourne Road, London E.17 When war broke out he started duty at the local Fire
Station at the top of the hill in Forest Road, London E.17 He served in the Auxiliary Fire Service from then until the end of hostilities. As soon he had his tea he would
cycle off to the fire station every night of the week as all in the men in the AFS did , come home have a clean up and off to his job. Very little sleep of course.

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