´óÏó´«Ã½

A recollection of Harry's brother, my father, Sydney, was that Harry's ship was struck off the coast of Ireland by a torpedo. When rescued Harry went on shore leave for nine days and came to visit Syd, who was then living in Fortnam Road, looking for some long deserved and relative peace. However, during an air raid a flying bomb dropped on a local police station and wrecked a number of adjacent houses, including Harry's own house.

Harry’s guardian angel must have been working overtime for him to not only have survived the sinking of his ship but also the having the good fortune of not being at home when it was blown apart.

Syd too recalled his wartime experiences. Just before the start of the Second World War he, along with many others, found himself out of work as businesses closed. In need of employment, he volunteered for work building a sandbag wall outside of a fire station at Clerkenwell.

Soon he was called-up at short notice to join the fire brigade and told to bring with him three days worth of provisions, a kit bag and a change of clothes as men were being allocated into sub-stations.

Syd was sent to one at the Prudential Insurance building in Holborn. On arrival the men were told they were to be ‘locked-in’ so that they were always on call. They spent the next three months carrying out practices and drills. This was the time of the ‘phoney war’. Eventually civilians who had been evacuated started to return to London and he was reposted to Sir Philip Magnus School in the Kings Cross area of London, which had been designated as a fire station.

Another incident involving the good and bad fortune of the Kirkman family at that time was also remembered by Syd. During the war the Germans had developed the rocket bomb which was more potent than the earlier flying bomb.

The strangeness of the flying bomb was you heard its distinctive droning as it flew overhead and it wasn’t until the engine stopped that you began to wonder where it might drop. With the rockets it was different. They would fly so fast that you never heard them coming. You would hear their loud explosion as they detonated followed shortly after by the sound of their flight.

One such rocket landed on the street where Syd’s mother had her home. Syd quickly rushed to the scene to find half the street had virtually disappeared, including his mother’s home. Fortune smiled on the Kirkmans that day too. He found his mother, half dazed in the street. She was concerned about her purse that contained whatever little money she had, for without home, possessions and money she would certainly be in dire straits. Syd climbed through the rubble of what had been the house in a vain attempt to search for a small purse. He found it. It was in what had been the upper part of the house on top of a sideboard.

Following that incident Syd’s mother went to stay with his sister, Ivy, and her husband, Tom Land.

Syd was an ardent walker. One night having been to visit his brother, Tom, at Watford he had made his way by train back to Euston railway station in London. When he arrived there was an air raid in progress. The warden at the station wouldn’t let Syd leave because of the danger from the bombing. Syd was still in his fire brigade uniform that day and protested that he had to get to his Fire Station that was only just up the road. This wasn’t quite true, as all he really wanted was to get home.

Eventually Syd and a soldier, also in uniform, persuaded the warden to let them pass on the basis that it was his civil duty to do so. Despite the air raid, which meant there was no public transport running, Syd walked the many miles through the blacked out streets to his home in north London. This stubbornness and disregard for his own safety showed his rebellious nature.

Another example of this was demonstrated during some ill feeling between the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service which had been formed as part of the Civil Defence) in which he was serving, and the regular fire brigade (formed to deal with "peace time" fires). Some of the regulars preferred that the AFS attended the more dangerous fires caused by the bombing and thought that their role was to deal with ‘normal routine’ fires.

There was a proposal at Syd’s fire station to form a breakaway union. Syd, against his wishes, was elected chairman and in order to raise funds he went off selling raffle tickets. For this he had no licence as was required by law. Naturally he got caught and he was told to report to the police station at Kings Cross the next day. As this was close to his fire station he donned his uniform and, once again during an air raid, walked the miles from home to Kings Cross and reported as required. The police sergeant on duty was more than taken aback and reprimanded Syd for walking about during an air raid. Syd replied that he had to get to his fire station and there was no public transport.

The police sergeant could say no more and sent Syd off on his way completely forgetting about the real reason for Syd having been summoned to the police station in the first place.

One night during the blitz Syd and his fire crew were called to attend the fires in London’s East End where the docks along the River Thames were a raging inferno. If ever there was a vision of Hell then this was it.

This and the following night were to be probably the severest of the bombing on London. During the first night three hundred bomber planes unloaded their deadly cargo on that small area of London.

Syd and his crew were fighting fires all night and all of the next day. During the second night a further two hundred bomber planes returned to ‘complete the task’ with Syd and his crew still fighting the fires without rest or relief.

When finally Syd and his crew ‘stood down’ and thought they could enjoy a well earned rest a Fire Officer passed by and instructed them to roll up and clear away all of the fire hoses. Syd complained that he and his crew had had no rest for two days and nights. The officer said that this was impossible, as each crew had been relieved after the first night. Despite Syd’s protests and his rebellious nature he could not bring himself to disobey an officer’s orders and wearily the crew set to the task. Eventually they returned to their fire station at 8.30 that morning where wet and exhausted they flopped onto their camp beds and slept through for about twelve hours.

Another of Syd’s campaigns followed an air raid in the Kings Cross area. A bomb had exploded causing a rupture to the River Fleet that usually was flowing under ground. He and his crew were called to pump out floodwater in order to keep the trains running. He was on this duty for three weeks, although this time there were relief breaks.

During the blitz London suffered fifty-seven nights of continual bombing. There were more bombs dropped on London than the rest of the Country as a whole.

The firemen who toiled relentlessly through those long days and nights felt some disappointment that they had never really received true recognition from Prime Minister Churchill. Some, later, were allowed to wear chevrons on the sleeves of their uniforms to signify they had been through the Blitz but this was little compared to the sacrifices endured by a brave group of men and women.

After the blitz there was a reduction in the need for the AFS and Syd had been declared as unfit for operational duties. He was reduced in rank and invalided out onto lighter general duties while stationed at Sir Philip Magnus School at Kings Cross.

It was here that he met Helen (Passey) who was to become his wife. Coincidentally it was that same school that I attended in the early 1960s.

Syd and Helen were married in 1942. His first son, Frederick Arthur, was born 31 May 1943. During the war Helen and Fred had been evacuated to a friend’s home in Yorkshire to escape the German bombing of London.

Syd remained an active member of the AFS and continued to attend the fire station, located at Euston, on a part time evening basis.

Syd, who passed away in July 2001, had been not only a fire fighter, but also a fighter against adversity for the best part of his life.

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