Grandad and The War

My maternal Grandad was Edward Smith. He did not go away to war. He was an engineer at Vickers Armstrong in Surrey and worked on aircraft, which was a reserved occupation. Whether he wanted to go and fight, or whether he was relieved he did not have to, I don’t know as I never discussed it with him. Unfortunately, by the time I moved onto my mum’s family tree he had already died and I did not get the chance to discuss anything related to his family in great detail and he hadn’t talked about it much with mum either. Working at Vickers Armstrong would prove to be a dangerous occupation for grandad, and a fatal one for many of his colleagues.

[Pic: Vickers Armstrong from the air]

Between July and November 1940 there were more than 40 raids by the German Luftwaffe in the area of Surrey where Ted and Winifred lived. My mum remembers her mum telling her she was at the sink looking out the window into the garden when a plane appeared to be heading directly towards her, she threw herself to the floor and under the kitchen table; my grandad also remembered a time when his factory was being bombed and everyone ran outside; he dived to the floor and machine gun bullets zig-zagged alongside him as they hit the ground. Fortunately, grandad had a lucky escape!

Another extremely lucky escape for my grandad and one to which he possibly owes his life, and also my mums and my own, was on 4th September 1940. On that day grandad was off sick and was not at the Vickers Armstrong factory.

At this time the Battle of Britain was raging and British Spitfire and Hurricane pilots were fighting off waves of German bombers coming in over Southern England. Wiping out the RAF by destroying the aircraft factories would have been Hitler’s aim. The work my grandad and his colleagues were doing at Vickers Armstrong would have been highly necessary, and the factory would have been a prime target for the German bombs. Although the factory was heavily camouflaged, the rail line was visible from the air and I suppose it was reasonably easy for the Germans to spot from the air.

[Pic: Vickers Armstrong in 1939]

On September 4th, just after lunch, the German Luftwaffe attacked the Vickers Armstrong factory. Grandad was at home. His colleagues were either sitting outside finishing their break, or queueing ready to clock back on. The workers had no warning; the lookout on the roof did not see them coming as the bright sun was in his eyes. They were taken completely unawares.

Within 3 minutes 83 people were dead and 419 were injured. Had my grandad been in work that day he could have been killed. I can imagine that he would have been extremely thankful on that day, but devastated that so many of his colleagues had died, perhaps even some of his friends.

Grandad continued to work at Vickers Armstrong for many years, and in 1953 he spent some time in Iraq working on repairs to Viking aircraft used by Iraqi Airways. I have a tall ashtray on a wooden stand on my landing which grandad brought back from Baghdad after that trip; it is an acquired taste and visitors may look at it and wonder why on earth I keep it, but in my opinion it is a family heirloom and whoever I leave it to in my will should be honoured to receive it; I hope its destiny is not the local tip and I can assure them that if it is I shall be spinning in my grave!

Grandad and The War

Another extremely lucky escape for my grandad and one to which he possibly owes his life, and also my mums and my own, was on 4th September 1940. On that day grandad was off sick and was not at the Vickers Armstrong factory.

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[Pic: Vickers Armstrong in 1939]

Within 3 minutes 83 people were dead and 419 were injured. Had my grandad been in work that day he could have been killed. I can imagine that he would have been extremely thankful on that day, but devastated that so many of his colleagues had died, perhaps even some of his friends.