- Contributed by听
- CSV Action Desk Leicester
- People in story:听
- John Hawthorne Dickinson
- Location of story:听
- Cannock Chase
- Article ID:听
- A5000068
- Contributed on:听
- 11 August 2005
During World War II I was an apprentice at the Grove Colliery of the Brownhills Collieries Ltd, owned by William Harrison on Cannock Chase, having left school at 16.
Aged 17, I was on the night shift on 14th of August 1945, the day the Japanese Emperor announced the total surrender of Japan. My job was overseeing two in bye pumps, which I think were in the New Mine Seam. It was quite wet as the workings were not very deep down. The shift ended at 6.30am the next morning, and we all assembled in the pit bottom by about 7.00am to go up to the surface.
It was normal practice for the cages to be kept somewhere in the area of mid shaft. The Onsetter (a man who supervises the control and loading of the cages) rang for the cage and a complete dummy run of the cages with tubs (trucks) has to made for safety reasons. As the cage arrived in the pit bottom written in capital letters on the end of the tub was "THE WAR IS OVER". A great cheer went up and we went up to the pit to find that no one had come to work and the Colliery was deserted, except for those necessary for overseeing its safety and its machinery.
I managed to catch a train home. One has to remember that the time in Japan is 9 hours ahead of ours.
"This story was submitted to the People's War Website by Michelle Moore of CSV Action Desk on behalf of John Hawthorne Dickinson and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions."
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