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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War sit by Samuel from Dover Road School and has been added to the website on behalf of Roger Driscoll with his permission and they fully understand the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

A classroom incident In Chepstow

My family Home family was a farmer house at North fleet Green near Gravesend I live there with my parents and two Brothers Brian aged 13 and Alan aged 11.

I joined the army on the 5th of January 1939, as a boy when I was 14 ad 4 months as an apprentice artificer. We were first at Woolwich because of the war starting we were moved to Chepstow. On Saturday morning the 9th of November 1940 I was in the classroom having an English lesson. It was a very overcast morning and we heard a plane flying low over head. One of the boys looked of the window and said sir that plane has crosses on it. He was told by the teacher Mr Fletcher not to be silly as the air raid warning hadn鈥檛 sounded. Just at that moment the warning did go. So we all made for the door to go to the air raid shelter. But as we went out of the door we saw the plane very low down turning round towards us and as it fly low over our work shops about 300 yards away we saw two bombs drop from the plane. One exploded by the fitting shop and one fell through the carpenter shop and bounced through the door without exploding. The plane then fly over the camp machine gunning and killed one boy named Thorton who was running from the gym to the air raid shelter a sergeant instructor was shot in the shoulder.

This was my first taste of action in the war. I severed in the forces for 22 years and had lots more incidents from Normandy beaches to Hamburg. I finished my service as a Warrant officer REME attracted to the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.

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