大象传媒

In 1943 I and five of my friends, all of us aged 15 decided we wanted to join the National Fire Service. When we went to enrol the Officers asked our ages, well all said we were 18. This was an obvious lie because at 18 you were called up for the Armed Forces, however the Fire Service were so desperate they accepted up.

We were stationed at the Inner Temple and commenced our training. After that we were sent to different fire stations in the City such as Clerkenwell and we were assigned to different watches.

I attended many incidents but the one that stands out was when we were fighting a fire on Saturday night. On the Sunday morning the Salvation Army mobile Canteen arrived and while we were having a cup of tea a flying bomb came over. The engine cut out so we dived under the mobile canteen for cover. The bomb just flew over us and and landed on the Wellington Barracks Chapel. Several Guardsman were killed.

This incident is recorded on the Wellington Barracks web site.

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