大象传媒

This article was printed in the Eastern Daily Press, written by Angie Kennedy.

It concerns my parents. Reginald Charles Mutten and Hylda Mutten (nee Beckie)

The dreaded telegram was brief but startling. His home back in Norfolk had been bombed, the details were minimal: 鈥淢other all right 鈥� Father in hospital 鈥� Mr. and Mrs. Fox killed鈥�.
For Reg Mutten, it must have seemed horribly ironic. He had joined the RAF earlier that year and was on his third posting. His parents must have been so worried for his safety, and now they were themselves the victims of a night time bombing raid on the east coast.
Seven bombs had been dropped by enemy aircraft flying over Reedham, between Gt. Yarmouth and Norwich. Six of the bombs had landed in the marshes and on the arable fields, but the Muttens鈥� Ferry Farm had taken the full force of the third.

Reg, then a nursing orderly; at RAF Rauceby hospital in Lincolnshire, was allowed seven days compassionate leave. He arrived home to find only part of the west wall of the farmhouse standing 鈥� the rest was rubble.

Although his parents had survived the bombing, there was great sadness for the couple who had died. The Foxes were nightly evacuees 鈥� they lived in Gorleston but spent each night at Ferry Farm for safety. Every evening many coastal families would make similar trips the few miles and to the comparative safety of the Broadland villages.

Mr Fox was an insurance man and, the day before the raid, had been collecting insurance premiums from his customers. The morning after the fatal bombing, pound notes and feathers from the pillows were scattered all around the farm.

When Reg returned to the farm he found that his father was still in hospital. His mother had fixed up a shed with a table, chair and paraffin stove from where she was running the farm, delivering milk in the village twice a day.

It was a worrying and busy week at the farm. Along with so many belongings and furniture, years worth of business records and documents had been lost.

When Reg returned to the RAF hospital he was eagerly looking forward to his leave when he could get back to helping his parents rebuild their home, but he was shocked to be told 鈥淭hat compassionate leave was your embarkation leave.鈥� He was to have no more leave in almost four-and-a-half years. And during his service with the RAF he spent six Christmases away from home, on postings as diverse as Lincolnshire, Cairo, Bengazi, Italy and Algiers.

Memories of Reg Mutten鈥檚 wartime experiences have recently come to light. His widow, Hylda, came across a collection of his war memories written up as a school project by a young niece (Beckie Brabbs) some years ago. The story follows Reg after the bombing of Ferry Farm, as he was soon posted to transit camp in preparation for overseas service.

Sailing from Liverpool in a 10-ship convoy, Reg and the thousands of other Army and Air Force personnel on board were not told where they were heading. They tried to plot their own directions by watching the position of the sun.

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