German bombers over the Valleys

On 25 July 1940, my mother Mary was outside the house in Chapel St, Aberaman when a German Bomber loomed over the rooftops. "I could see the big black crosses on the wings," she told me. She grabbed my sister out of the pram and ran indoors - out the back she could see the bombers dropping bombs across the other side of the valley. She said "Then Spitfires came and chased after them going hell for leather".

I researched the event. The three Spitfires had been scrambled from RAF Pembrey onto a German bomber raid over Swansea - they pursued the bombers into the valleys. Sq Ldr Robert Roland Stanford Tuck, Bill Watling and 'Titch' Havercroft were our pilots. All three German aircraft were shot down, one in the Bristol Channel, one in Filton and one near Cheddar. One Spitfire was caught by return fire and force landed on Maerdy Mountain. Titch Havercroft was taken to Maerdy and given a couple of drinks and cigarettes, by the Home Guard who at first had tried to arrest him thinking he was a German pilot. This part was related to me by a retired police officer who had been with the Home Guard during wartime when he was too young for the army.

The Germans were not bombing Aberdare, they had been shedding their loads trying to get away. Fortunately my mother and sister were OK - that day. In a cruel twist of fate, a year or so later when my parents had moved to Aberdare, there was an American Army base in Bond Street, pre D-Day. The kids all used to flock there because the G.I.s used to make a fuss of them and sometimes give out sweets and chocolate. "Got any gum chum?" was a well-known phrase. There was a big hot water tank there used for the soldiers' coffee and cooking. One day a passing horse and cart knocked the watertank over and it went all over the little children, my sister Tania and a little boy Colin North. Colin survived but my sister Tania did not; she died later of scalding/shock. It makes me weep every time I recall this. I am 72 now and had not been born then. I don't know how my parents carried on. "It was the war," they said. There was a huge funeral. All the Americans were in a huge cavalcade in their Jeeps and vehicles. My father was sent home from the RAF. I found his CO's letter giving him permission once and broke down in tears. My mother once said that Tania asked her, "Mammy take me home from hospital - I won't be naughty again." I am breaking down now so can't write much more.

I include photos of my parents and Tania who has been in my heart all my life. The pic of my dad is from the RAF Shetlands where he was based but the background is modern. The Government feared the Germans would invade from Norway too. He hated it. The rain was constant and "horizontal" he said - he just wanted to be home with my mother and family. I have a copy of Stanford Tuck's flying log book and enclose a photo of the page which I think included the action mentioned. Thank you for reading. Denzil Davies