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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Roger Marsh of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Sheila Hurst and has been added to the site with the author’s permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

These memories are taken from a special edition of a newsletter kindly submitted by Longstone Local History Group. It was edited by Liz Greenfield and published in Autumn 2002. Longstone was a village which sheltered evacuees and was comparatively unaffected by air attack, although the night sky was often lit by the fires of the Sheffield Blitz.

Longstone Local History Group - One family's war Part 1
by
Sheila Hurst
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Other parts to this story are at:

Introduction: A7887487

Roy Finney’s Story: A7887784

Frank, A and S Hurst: A7888396

Flames of Sheffield: A7888657

Molly Thornhill’s Story: A7888882

Tony Greenfield’s Story: A7889133

Martin Simon’s Story: A7889557

Stella Holmes’ Story: A7889971

Home defence remembered: A7890230

Burma servicemen Remembered: A7890492

Norman Hoare’s Story: A7891004

Norman Hassal’s Story: A7891202

Women’s Institute: A7891888

One Family’s War Part Two: A7893534

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Frank and Sheila Hurst, two of the younger members of the Hurst family, still live in Longstone and have provided photographs and documents. We are using their story to show the effect of the war, not only on their own family, but on others in the village.

Four Hursts served in the forces at some stage in the war, including Dick who was killed in northern France shortly after D-day. They left behind their father, Harry, who had been blinded in the First World War.

Phoebe was a mill worker at Cressbrook and later a domestic servant at The Grange, Longstone and at Portsmouth for Commander Eaveley. She joined the WAAF as a cook and was based at Bottesford in Nottinghamshire.

Richard Henry (Dick) was a gardener apprentice at the Grange and then a gardener at Thornbridge. He was in the Welsh Regiment and the Monmouthshire regiment, serving in the Hebrides, in Ireland and in France. He was killed on 5 August 1944 near Tilly-sur-Seulles, soon after the allied landings in Normandy.

Gerald was a mineral extractor for Athertons on Longstone moor and a timber worker at Smiths Sawmills, Bakewell. After joining the army he was a timber worker in the Forest of Dean and, with the Royal Engineers, a tunneller on the Rock of Gibraltar.

Frank was a gardener at Thornbridge before joining the King's Own Light Infantry. He was based at Lincoln, Berwick-on-Tweed and Alnwick. He later served in India: at Doollalie, the Kola Goldfields, the Mysore Jungle, and the Chindit training camp in Central Provinces.

Documents provided by Sheila Hurst help to convey the shock and horror of death in war and its devastating effect on the families involved.

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