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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Bruce Logan of the CSV Media NI Team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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I’m from Staffordshire in England. The place the mugs are made, and me being one of them. The place where Stanley Matthews was born and bred.

The war started in 39, and I volunteered to join. I joined the RAF. My first sqdn was 78 sqdn Bomber Command. In Dishworth in Yorkshire. And there I used to fly in the Whitley Bomber, and then in the Halifax. We were doing tours across the water into Germany for quite a while.

I decided to get married, for we were told that you don’t leave England when you’re in Bomber Command. To my astonishment I discovered this was not true. I got married, and then 5 wks later I was on my way overseas. There I joined what is now known as the SOE in North Africa, dropping boys into enemy territory.

And then we came home. From then on the Second Front started. I finished up at Cranwell College in England, and then retired gracefully.

[where did you serve in Italy?]
A place called Brindisi on the heel. And the sqdn was going across to Yugoslavia and different places to drop these boys and girls in numerous places.

[were there many female agents?]
No, I wouldn’t say so. But my view of them was, they were the brave people. Real patriots, and they were dropping in France and Poland and different places. Quite an interesting set-up. And look what happened — I came out in one piece!

[did you meet any famous people?]
We met different people. Not famous shall we say as such, as fliers or whatever. We met numerous film-stars, they would come across and give us a bit of a laugh.
George Raft, which was a well-known gangster-boy. Those were the people that used to come and entertain us.
That would be 1943. At that stage we were in North Africa then at a place called Bleeda. They were operating then across … but those were the things that went on then. Not v eventful. We came back, which was the main item. In saying that, we were a part of it.
There’s quite a few of those [units], doing several things. We were in a sqdn, one of the sqdns, shall we say.

[what airfields did you serve at?]
The one in Italy was Brindis. In north Africa it was Bleeda.
Then we went across to Italy, then I was sent home. That was the situation.

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