Story of Frank George Foote (Royal Army Service Corps)

Frank was born in London in 1904 and lived in Camberwell. The interviewee's father's mother left his father (who was roughly 8 years old at the time of the war) in a children's home but his aunt got him out of the home and looked after him. Frank joined up in October 1942 because there was a shortage of officers. He did various courses, including a motorcycle course. He became a Captain in the Royal Army Service Corps. After the war, he returned to civilian life as an insurance broker and went around assessing war damage. Frank never talked much about the war, but he did talk about an incident with the Belgians.

To escape the Blitz, the family moved to a farm-house in Long Crendon, where there was a searchlight on a nearby hill. Late one night, they heard the drone of an aircraft engine. His father was in the corps for recognising aircraft silhouettes and engine noise. He identified the aircraft as a German bomber and said they should get under the table. Grandmother said it was a different aircraft and refused. By the time the searchlight switched on, the aircraft had dropped three bombs which only just missed the farm-house. When they heard the first bomb, they all quickly got under the table.