大象传媒

My job was to supply hydrogen to the whole of the balloon barrage covering Britain. All the balloon sites used to telephone me in the morning and tell me how many gas cylinders they required. Before D-Day it was decided that balloons should be flown above the ships to protect them from aircraft. I received a telephone call the week before D-Day, informing me that I should get so much gas down to a certain place. I was quite excited because it was all very secretive, but I was relieved because our troops were in France and up until then we hadn鈥檛 seemed to be doing much to help them. Then of course the operation was cancelled twice, which was very frustrating. I felt very responsible; making sure that the gas was there on time and in the proper place.
On D-Day itself, I was at headquarters in Chessington. I was very relieved when I heard the news broadcast that they had invaded France. At the time I was living at home because my mother was recently widowed so I spent the evening listening to the news. I felt very proud, but of course I couldn鈥檛 say anything because I was sworn to secrecy. The balloons did play an important part in the operation by distracting the aircraft. The pilots would not have known what they were, they probably though they were bombs. I would have liked to have been there to see the results of all my work.

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