On the beach

During the Second World War my Dad was evacuated to Torquay with his mother and sister. They were lucky enough to be able to stay near an Aunt who had also been evacuated with her son. My Grandfather was in a protected occupation in London so he remained in the City and would come and visit his family at weekends.

On one such weekend the family were on the beach at Torquay when a squadron of German fighters who had dropped their bombs on Plymouth flew up the Devon coast and started shooting indiscriminately. All children had been taught to "hit the deck" if there was danger as you were less likely to be hit by gunfire or falling debris so my Dad did just this on the sand. He was quite some way away from his parents so could not see them.
An off duty sailor was near my father and instinctively threw himself on top of my Dad to protect the six year old boy. They remained like this for several minutes.

After the danger had passed my grandfather came running over to my Dad and the sailor and gave him a £20 note (which was a lot of money in those days). When I asked my Dad why Grandpa was carrying that kind of money on the beach he explained that you didn't leave anything valuable at home as you never knew if it would still be standing when you returned.