University of Oxford
Browse

A Fireman's War

Download (1.64 MB)
online resource
posted on 2024-06-05, 17:37 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

My dad Bill Connah was a fireman during the war. He worked at Plaistow Fire Station, near the docks. He drove the fire engine. He was a fireman from 1937. He saw some horrible sights. The Germans bombed a school in 1943 and outside were children waiting to be evacuated. They were all killed. Part of my dad's job was recovering dead bodies, he didn't just put out fires.

Towards the end of the war, the Germans dropped V2 rockets and one dropped behind our house. My dad had to attend this, not knowing if his own house had been hit or not.

History

Item list and details

Photos of fire crew

Person the story/items relate to

Bill Connah

Person who shared the story/items

Anon

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Father of contributor

Type of submission

Shared at Hadleigh Library, Essex on 4 November 2023. Organised by Hadleigh Castle u3a.

Record ID

97071 | HAD013