Re: Questions
Horace A. Basham (horace@hbasham.ak.planet.gen.nz)
Wed, 19 Nov 1997 15:19:46 -0400
>On Wed 19 Nov, Wilson Stuart School wrote:
> Sometime ago some students researching world war two asked some questions
>
> Your generous replies have generated more
>
Dear Wilson Stuart School,
Friend Arthur Pay wrote to you regarding fire watching much more
graphically than I. He had very much more experience at it than I did.
Two points he raised. The payment. That was a token ammount, more or less a
meal allowance. The sum of seven shillings and six pence comes to mind. I
am not sure now if that was for the night or a week.
I did not volunteer for firewatching. I was directed. So it was the Paint
factory I started at. I did not work there. I transferred to the docks
because that was where I worked prior to the RAF.. I reckoned I might as
well defend my own job. As for someone elses. The docks were a prime target
for enemy raids. So I was not doing myself any favours as far as safety was
concerned.
The second is that not always water was used, We dumped sand on them, as
water had no effect. Some even flared up again when air got to them. Jerry
did not make it easy for us, you know.
There is a book put out by readers Digest. It was a first in a series. It
gives many accounts of Life on the Home Front. It is well illustrated with
many photographs, and it deals with all sides of the war in Europe. It is
not an exhustive account but well put together with short page bites.
Horace
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The Waitakere Ranges. Auckland N.Z.
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Horace A.Basham Writing from the Foothills
20 Opanuku Road of the Waitakere Ranges
Henderson Aotearoa
Auckland 1008 Land of the Long White Cloud
New Zealand horace@hbasham.pl.net
(+64) 9 836 8342 horace@hbasham.ak.planet.gen.nz
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