Below Belief

Speech for Grandad

For all my life Grandad has lived in Boulmer and led a stable and quite sedentary life. But thanks to my dad recording Grandad’s war story for the BBC World War 2 Archive, I came to know my Grandad in a new light.

Here was a man who by the time he reached my age had served in the RAF for nearly 20 years and had been awarded an MBE for services to his country during the “charmed war” he felt he was lucky enough to have led – seemingly being posted out of danger at every opportunity.

He joined the Royal Airforce in 1935 aged just 15 – inspired from an early age by the exciting life led by his half brother Marcel Phillips who was a Sergeant Pilot. His intake became known as Trenchard’s Brats after the ‘father of the RAF’ who had set up the apprentice scheme.

During a week’s leave at his wedding to Alison in 1940, he paints a picture of war-torn life with the “Battle of Britain” going on in the sky above him. I have only really known Britain during largely peaceful times so it’s hard to really imagine what this would have been like… On his way to the church in Kent he had to shelter to avoid showers of canon shells falling from the sky, as two planes did battle overhead.

Because of the war, Grandad didn’t have the luxury of a well-planned wedding like people might have today, instead it was a rushed affair where he dragged an RAF Sergeant off the street to be his Best Man. At his mum’s house in Tunbridge Wells afterwards, they were all lucky to escape as a yellow nosed Messerschmitt crashed into the ground only a mile away.  And had he not then escorted his newly-wed wife away with him to his next posting up in Aberdeenshire – then several of us might not have been here today.

Later, Grandad was posted to Egypt , then Libya , then Greece , then the Greek Islands – always sleeping on a camp-bed he had been issued at the start of the war – apparently because there were so few beds for his squadron. But he was always working hard to keep the planes in the air. They made do and mended – including continually repairing leaking fuel tanks on the planes and worrying about tyres that burst in mid-flight requiring nasty bellyflop landings. Being away for three years, working hard in grim conditions, dealing with the discomfort of mosquitoes, air raids and men around you being killed, says a lot about the character of the man he was.

I wish I could step back in time and see the other incredible things Grandad got up to. But I’m very proud to be just one of his many Grandchildren and thankful for his long and purposeful life.