Thomas Charles (Charlie) Rees, ARP warden
February 20th 1941: Three Night Blitz
My maternal grandfather Charlie Rees was living at 42, Eigen Crescent, Mayhill, Swansea. He was employed as a butcher's van driver to support his young wife May and eight year old daughter Mary. He was also a chief ARP warden and his duties included fitting and checking gas masks, planning firewatch rotas,giving talks to various groups, and firefighting once a week with their fire engine.
His close friend and neighbour George Ham was part of the team and they spent many long hours working together. Charlie was campaigning to get a civil defence post for the Mayhill area.
On the night of February 19th 1941 Charlie & George were out as usual on patrol when the siren sounded and flares were drifting down followed as usual by incendiaries which were already starting fires in houses near to Teilo Crescent.
They set to work with the help of the other wardens and firefighters and were very proud at the end of the night that all the houses had been saved.
They walked back to Charlie's house for their usual cuppa feeling very tired but pleased with the success of their efforts.
On the following night George had a date in the cinema in town. However, within a few minutes of the start of the film, the siren sounded. George knew he had to get to his post straight away and his date said she would stay with him, in the hope it was a false alarm. They hurried up the hill and the bombs started falling. By the time they reached Teilo Crescent several fires had started.
Charlie was at one of the houses and as he had plenty of help he told George to take his date to the family shelter for safety. As George started to hurry back up the road between Eigen and Teilo Crescent he heard the terrifying scream of a bomb and was knocked flat. He got up and ran towards Teilo but there was no sign of the firefighters, just a bomb crater and cries for help. He ran to where he knew the house owned a phone and called for help.
By 4.30am the following morning 25 people had died, all of them friends, including Charlie. The bomb squad had laid out bodies on the pavement but Charlie was nowhere to be found, in fact he never was.
On the third consecutive night the raids continued but the bombing seemed to be concentrated on the town centre. However, ironically both George & Charlie's families lost their homes that night.
Charlie's wife May and Mary were taken in by family in Manselton, later returning to live in Townhill once the houses were rebuilt following the war. Mary later trained to be a teacher at Townhill School.
Charlie would be delighted to know that his dream of a civil defence post was later established at Alun Road where George took over his role.
This first-hand account of the night Charlie died was from the written memoirs of George. I had no idea of the events that took place that fateful night until after 2021. Thank you to his niece Pat for getting in touch with me.
