大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Mairi Campbell of the 大象传媒 on behalf of Campbell Chesterton and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

During WW2 while my father was in the army overseas my mother and I stayed with my uncle and aunt (her sister) Mr and Mrs Blyth on their farm, Hill of Drip three miles NW of Stirling. As well as local farm workers there was three Italian POW鈥檚 living and working on the farm, to identify them they had large round yellow patches on their uniforms on the backs. They slept in the barn but they had their meals in the farm kitchen where they listened to the radio. Although it was forbidden, the family gave them civilian overcoats and took them to the cinema in Stirling. One was called Romalo Faretti from Viterbo, I have a photo with him in 1942. During the second world war the carse of Stirling was used by the RAF for low fly training as low as thirty foot was permitted, this was very exciting for a young boy, one day we saw a spitfire aircraft and the tail off another over Dunblane. We heard that one crashed in Callander, there were many accidents. A hurricane fighter landed in the next farm with its wheels up, we managed to get a seat in it before the guard arrived. The 2nd of July 1943 (a few days before my 5th birthday) it was a lovely sunny afternoon and we were in the garden cutting the grass, the Italian POW鈥檚 were working in the field below the farm when suddenly a spitfire flew very low over them (I think the training pilot had noticed the yellow patches) and decided to fly around again to frighten the POW鈥檚, the second time he passed very low over then and the aircraft struck the ground and exploded into the air crashing in pieces in the cornfields in front of the farm. I was told to stay and my mother and her sister took a travelling rug ran down and threw the rug over the blazing pilot; aircraft bullets were exploding and the cornfields was on fire with fuel. Some troops in a passing truck came over and told my mother to go home as nothing could be done for the pilot. In the evening after the pilots body was taken away I was taken down to see the crash. A few days later an RAF crew came to remove the aircraft remains my mother was told the pilot was a 22 year old Australian from No50 Operational Training Unit, Grangemouth. A few years ago I was able to find out that the pilot was Flight Sergeant Jeff Weedon RAF age 22 and was able to visit his grave at the Cemetery in Falkirk, and his aircraft was Spitfire Mk 2 P8694.

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