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I was born in 1920 and started at the British United Shoe Machinery Company (BU) in 1934 aged 14 years old so when war broke out in 1939 I was an apprentice engineer and therefore in a reserves occupation.

I tried to join the Navy twice but was turned down both times.
We worked on Spitfire engines for the Rolls Royce in Derby.
The factory was working day and night and the lorries were parked outside the factory waiting to take parts to Derby.
The parts more or less came straight off the machines and onto the lorries. As a skilled engineer I was moved about working at several engineering firms in Leicester.
During the war the BU had a buzzer that sounded that you could hear as far away as Birstall.
The buzzer sounded twice — the first time at 7.25am and then at 7.30am by which time you were expected to be at your machine ready to start work.

I remember one occasion I was standing in the garden of my parents house after the air raid siren sounded. I was watching a land mine float down on a parachute. As it came down it floated first one way and then another — you did not know which way to run.
It finally landed near Abbey Lane in Leicester and demolished six houses. The land mine was possibly meant for the railway sidings at the back of Abbey Lane. Although six houses were wiped out there was only one casualty - a lady who had come out of the air raid shelter to make a cup of tea.

Other things I remember are the blackouts, rationing, no transport after 9 O’ clock at night and tanks being parked on one half of the dual carriageway on Melton Road outside the Thorn Lighting Factory.
Otherwise life went on normally.

This story was told to Dave Bielby of CSV Action Desk Leicester and submitted to the People’s War Website by Lisa Reeves of behalf of Kenneth Pearce and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understand the sites terms and conditions.

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