大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Amanda Wilkins on behalf of Ronald Goward with his permission. Ronald fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I left school at 14 in 1942 and worked in a shop for two years before joining the fire service.

I went along to Hendon when I was 16 and said I wanted to join but they told me I had to be 17 and sent me away. On the way home I passed Mill Hill Fire Station so I went in there, said I was 17 and they took me on as soon as my father had signed the consent form.

I was taken on as a messenger and had exactly the same uniform as the firefighters without the axe. I had the steel helmet and service gas mask.

We looked after Mill Hill, Hendon and Finchley fire stations, a garage at Hutton Grove, Finchley and the fire brigade took over Wingates Football Ground at Fiveways Corner and St Dunstan's at Sunnyfields Park, Hendon.
They were all within half an hour's walk from my home.

I worked from 7pm to 7am, two hours on and four hours off and would report to Mill Hill, 15 minutes from my home. They would send me where I was needed. There were about 20 of us messengers and if we had to go to Sunnyfields or St Dunstan's they sent us off on bikes.

I often went out on the trailer pump and helped set up the pump but one of my jobs was to go up the hose drying tower at Hendon, about 150 feet up, to look for flying bombs. Now I'm afraid of heights!

Several things stick in my mind but one was going to a fortnight's training camp in Middlesex to do PT then taking part in an exercise for HM King George V and the late Queen Mum at the headquarters in Lambeth.

They sat on the balcony watching us do PT and there were adult British and American firefighters there. An air raid was going on at the time way above our heads and we could see the white trails from the dog fights.

Most of the firefighters I served under were old enough to be my father but one young one I remember was called Hugh Wootton and I am sure he used to write articles for the yachting magazines.

My brother Harry served with me and I remember when the flying bomb landed on a doctor's house in Langley Park, a very exclusive private road in Mill Hill. Everybody who was anybody lived there in those days.

Harry and I were off duty but we heard it and put on our uniforms, grabbed our helmets and ran up there. We reported to the duty officer and I was put in a house with a large bay window to take messages on the telephone.

One other incident stands out in my memory. It was when a flying bomb hit the Officer's Mess at Hendon. I think one officer was killed. I went on the fire engine to that one but when we got there the RAF fire brigade had got it under control.

When we were stood down in 1946 we all marched through Finchley to the Odeon Cinema where we were thanked for all we had done.We didn't get paid, only travelling expenses, but it was a very exciting time and there was great cammeraderi.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.