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CWS 180804D 16:25:50 — 16:27:14

This story has been added by CSV volunteer Linda Clark on behalf of the author Peter Gilson. His story was given to the Trebah Video Archive, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2004. The Trebah Garden Trust understand the site’s terms and conditions.

The bombing became somewhat more indiscriminate with bombs being dropped around the town. When you are young that sort of thing becomes somewhat of an adventure. As soon as that happens you want to go and have a look at it to see what damage it had done. One of our teaching staff, Frank Dukes (a wonderful man who was the most non military man you could ever wish to meet) had bad eye sight so the Services wouldn’t take him. He was the mathematics teacher and he volunteered to be in charge of the school Army Cadet Unit. No-one could believe he would volunteer for such a job because we wondered how he knew how to teach us to ‘present arms’ and ‘slope arms’. He told me later that he had learnt it all the night before, having gone to some fellow who knew how to do it all. He then came to us the next day and taught it to us extremely well. He ran a very efficient unit.

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