大象传媒

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When I was sixteen in 1940, I joined the Air Defense Cadet Corps, under Capt Albert Balls, brother of Castle Engineering who started the 138 Squadron and was run down Trent Lane near Speedway track, from one hut this grew to 3 or 4 huts, and then it was changed to the Air Training Corps as it's known today. With the view to joining the Airforce, but when I went to register at Labour exchange in 1942, in first batch of 18's to register, I was told there was no vacancies in the Royal Air Force, what else would I prefer? So I said Fleet Air Arm, back came reply, 'No vacancies', so I said any chance of being able to get into the Royal Navy on passing Doctor and Education Test was accepted, many had to go down pts or into Ordance factories. But I never expected till I was called up and went to HMS Glendower, PWLLHEE which was Butlins holiday camp, and still is today I would be gunner on Merchant Ships, attached to section of the Royal Navy.
At sixteen I joined the ARP to be a cyclist messenger and was attached to the post which was built near a bridge on Sneinton Dales, and when the German's A bomb exploded while in the post to take messages out on my buke, we could not get out, we had to axe our way out, when all the telephone wires were down, and the next day we learned that Hutton St off Colwick Road had bomb on it, CO-OP bakery Meadow Lane and lives lost.
My brother was going back the next day when there was an exploded bomb near Bridge on Sneinton Dale, my mother and I had just seen him catch the No.3 bus to town to get his train, when the bomb went off, both of us were both shakedn up by it.

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