大象传媒

My father was posted to Mountbatten station around the late 1939-40鈥檚. he rented a house in Turnchapel, opposite the main gate of the RAF establishment, my mother a I move down to be with him, I was about to have my 17th birthday, an exciting time for me to move from the country to be near the sae and the old city of Plymouth. I had to leave my Horticultural training behind and, being war time, I as given a job at Mumford's of Billacombe in the Progress department, they were making wings for the mosquito fighter bomber at the time.

I don鈥檛 remember the exact day or night that the Germans started bombing us, but I was out with the locals putting out fire bombs and helping as much as a good. My mother-who was a pianist-used to go up to the fort, just up the road from our house, to play for the people who used it as a local air raid shelter. I remember one night a Heinrich Bomber was so low coming over the hill I could see the pilot in his glass fronted plane as swooped down to bomb the shipping in Turnchapel harbour. Bullets were going through, fired from the camp, but it didn鈥檛 come down.

I remember the raids going on for several nights, nothing much we could do but watch the whole area burn. I was very tired working all day and up most of the night. One evening I turned in after tea to get some sleep before the raids started. I must have missed my mother calling me to get up. I was woken with a start and a terrific crashing noise, the end of my bed was missing and I was almost sitting up. I switched the light on, then off again as I could see the sky through my ceiling and roof. The end of my metal bed was smashed to pieces-a very near miss for my legs.

I dressed in the dark, my dog-Vic-was barking his head off and going mad to get out of the house. As I opened the front door bombs were coming down in our area thick and fast. Suddenly I felt a tremendous rush of air. I threw myself down behind the stone wall in the front garden as a large one hit just across the road from me. I remember all the glass falling down from the windows and stones and rails clattering around me. I expect I was in shock as I was feeling myself all over to see if I was still in one piece. Thankfully, the raid passed over but the house was in a mess. I didn鈥檛 see my pet dog for three days, when he did come home he was never the same, every time a plane passed over he would hide from the noise.

Luckily for us my father was not needed anymore at RAF Mount Batten and we all moved up to Peterborough area R.H.F. I lost many workmates at Mumford's during those dark days and came as close to being killed as I did in the Royal Marine Commando鈥檚 that I joined when I was 18. I served my full time in the Royal Marines and finished my time at the Commando Training centre here at Lympstone as the W/O2 in charge of the Officers Training Wing team.

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