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This story has been submitted to the People’s War Website by Anne Wareing ogf the Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Joseph Dalton and has been added to the site with his permission…

I am the son of a soldier and I enjoyed the life. I was born at Fulwood Barracks Preston.
When I was 18 in 1938 I volunteered to join the Army. I did my training at Chester for three months, training on anti aircraft guns. There were four men in a team needed to operate the Boafers 40mm gun, a firer, two loaders and a commander.

I was transferred to Liverpool and Seaforth, where the guns were positioned on the seafront; light anti-aircraft guns together with heavy artillery. A barrage balloon floated in the sky above.

The regiment that had been there before us had suffered huge losses. Luckily we suffered none at all.

We were there for 12 months, during this time the city was going through the blitz. We were at our guns for as long as was needed and we got very little sleep.

After 12 months I was sent to a recovery camp at Southend on Sea, which is where Lord Haw Haw had been educated. I spent three months there to rehabilitate. After this I went to Preston, where I got my discharge papers. Lifelong friendships were formed and I have kept touch with two of my former colleagues, one in Southport and the other in Chorley.

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