大象传媒

This is true event told to me by my father, who is very much alive and kicking at the age of 83. He was a raw RAF recruit aged 18 and on guard duty outside a hotel in Paignton, where they were stationed. It was the early hours of the morning when the i.c. guard came out and handed my father five rounds of ammunition. He then informed my father that there had been an invasion a few miles down the coast! Presumably dad was supposed to stop the Germans entering Paignton with 5 rounds!

Whilst at the Initial Training Wing in the Tembani Hotel, Paignton (since disappeared), the new recruits were sent to Babbacombe where they were to be addressed by Lord Trenchard - Marshall of the RAF. He was a very well known figure who had fought in the 1st WW and used a walking stick rather than a batten when addressing his men. As the men were standing on the cliff and listening to Lord Trenchard informing them that 'the only decent Hun was a dead one' the enemy must have overheard because suddenly the roar of a German JU88 bomber was heard and Lord Trenchard shouted ' disperse everyone'. Later my father discovered the bomber was returning from bombing Newton Abbot station and eight people had been killed.

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