- Contributed by听
- Wyre Forest Volunteer Bureau
- People in story:听
- Gwendoline Thomas (Lance Corporal Botterill)
- Location of story:听
- Hayling Island
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A3187073
- Contributed on:听
- 27 October 2004
On a foggy November morning we had a red warning and we were on the battery. Suddenly out of the mist a huge bomber appeared. It seemed close enough to touch it. The pilot must have seen us on the battery. Someone shouted "Get on the machine guns." By that time it had gone and it crashed further up the beach.
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While the invasion barges were being built in Portsmouth Bay we shot a German aircraft down in flames from Hayling Island. One of the men said to me that he had put an extra notch in the shell. We shot them down in flames aned one man bailed out and he was in flames.
There we were dancing about and shrieking and carrying on because we had shot down the 'plane, when we suddenly stopped and thought "Oh, oh this is a man coming down!"
It's a bit of a shocking feeling - to see that you have killed one person or even more.
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