WARTIME MEMORIES

BARRY JOHN SLATER

I always meant to get my father to talk about his ‘experiences’ during the First World War and record them. Before 1914 he was an ‘improver’ at Sheffield Simplex, a cheap form of apprenticeship. They were employed making motor cars among other things. He signed on at Pontefract Barracks and later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He wanted to be a pilot but his squadron officer or C.O. told him;

"We can train any cavalryman, of which we have plenty, to fly in a few months. It takes years to train a mechanic to keep us silly buggers flying and we are short of mechanics. If you stay as you are I’ll take you home to Doncaster for a weekend now and again."

This was I believe, Captain Galley whose family had something to do with Doncaster racecourse where the planes landed. Dad had to service the aircraft and make certain they were chocked and tied down. The local militia guarded them. He went off to South Elmsall where Grandma and Grandpa lived. On Monday morning, dad got the engine running and they flew back navigating by following the railway lines. This they did several times apparently without any problems.

My father-in-law Harry Lee was a prisoner of war in the last ‘39-45’ war. He didn’t say much about those times but I know he and lots of others were forced to work in, I believe, Polish coal mines. Conditions were appalling. Crushed hands and feet were frequently welcomed as a ticket out of the mines.

Uncle Charlie Lodge was born in Cridling Stubbs and worked as a fitter at the Bonemill as well as at various quarries. During the war he was a civil maintenance engineer at Finningley Airfield. Many of his stories and tales were very sad. Aircraft staggering back after a raid only to crash-land and burn. Driving a bulldozer, with bombs falling around him, he would attempt to fill in the bomb craters so that returning aircraft could land safely. He also ended up trapped in the power-generating house after a near miss damaged the blast-proof doors, wedging them shut.

I always meant to get them to tape record their experiences but for some reason or other it just never happened. That is something I regret very much, so to everyone else out there, don’t be like me, record those stories for posterity.

Barry John Slater
Sunday January 4 2004

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