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This story was entered onto the People's War Website by Rod Sutton on behalf of Frank Bate, the author, with his full permission. He fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My father was a farmer. He had six children and lived by the railway station at Tresmeer.

His eldest son, my brother Tom, had left home as a civil servant and then joined the RAF as a pilot.

I was the second in the family and was a boarder at Launceston College studying for ‘A’ levels at 17 years of age, when my father was taken ill and died on Christmas Day, 1940 aged 50.

My mother was left with five children at home on a 360 acre farm, and my brother (16) and myself had to run the farm together with my sister (15) and two younger brothers still at school.

As a consequence I was excused army service and later became a member of the Home Guard.

During the war it was compulsory that we cultivated one third of the total acreage of the farm. That meant that we had 120 acres in various crops, mainly cereals.

This particular year there had been a poor harvest. Whilst we had good crops, the weather had been very wet and the corn, in those days, was cut with a binder and sheaves placed in shocks. These could only be gathered in good weather and, after a long period of wet weather, a good dry spell came and we had many acres of corn to carry in a short space of time.

Just then, there was an army camp at Pennygillam in Launceston and it was possible to get soldiers to come to help on the farms.

One day eight soldiers arrived with three vehicles and together with our two tractors and trailers we were able to bring in many loads of corn. However, on arrival, the soldiers had stated that they could only stay until seven o’clock as they were going back to a dance in the evening. Well of course, in the harvest field the period from 7pm to 10pm is vital.

At 5pm my mother and sister brought tea out to the mowhay where the unloading was done, and everybody, with the exception of two soldiers who were working in the field, enjoyed their tea and a few moments rest. Later, these two soldiers arrived and went into the house to have their tea. Whilst they were there, my mother was preparing a roast as well as blackberry and apple tarts for the late supper when the day’s work was done.

After the two soldiers had finished their tea, they went up to the mowhay to see the rest of the soldiers.

Seven o’clock came, but we never heard another word about the dance, and late that evening they all came in and sat around the large kitchen table to share in that harvest supper – much to their and our delight.

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