BBC 70 Years Remembrance of the Blitz 1940/41 Starting with Plymouth

[Janet]

A new series of the Blitz of the Second World War is being broadcast on BBC radio 4 starting Sunday 5 September 7.45 pm. From Monday 6 September to Friday 10 September the programme will be broadcast twice a day at 10.45 am and 7.45 pm. There are six cities involved, 5 British and one German. Sunday will be Plymouth, Monday Liverpool, Tuesday London, Wednesday Belfast, Thursday Birmingham and Friday Lubeck. The programmes range in length from three quarters of an hour to a quarter of an hour.

I am pleased to see Plymouth head this list. I was a terrified child in the Blitz of Plymouth and I have always felt that the Plymouth story of the Blitz has never been told in any great depth. No doubt other cities on this list feel the same way.

Janet

[Janet]

Help, there are two of these appearing when I only wanted one notice! My first one told me there was an error so I repeated it and got two!! Please help me to delete one of them!!

Janet

[Loopy Linda in La La Land]

Thanks Janet..will make a note to listen to this

Linda

[Velma Dinkley]

The other thread has now been deleted

[Janet]

:oThank you Rachel.

Janet

[Velma Dinkley]

No problem

Hopefully this should be on IPlayer - I'll try to find a link after it's been broadcast

[tulipoo]

Hi Janet,
Within the last 12 months I have confirmed I had an uncle killed in the blitz of Plymouth in
April, 1941
He was in the navy and was in shore barracks HMS Drake. There were about 100 personnel
killed. I have also found his grave in Plymouth.
He joined the navy when he was 16 as a boy and then enlisted again. So he saw two wars.
He was 40 years old.
Best wishes, Ian

[Janet]

Ian

Thanks for that story. The incident you refer to was the Petty Officers Quarters that received a direct hit and you quote 100 personnel as having died. There is also doubt on how many were actually killed in this one incident, as the number of Service Personnel killed in the Plymouth Blitz have never been included in the official total of 1,000. I am glad you found your uncle's grave, it is satisfying to bring a story to its total conclusion, even if sad. I wonder if his grave was at the Weston Mill Cemertery?

Janet

[tulipoo]

Janet,
Yes his grave is at Weston Mill. I had a kind person take a photo for me as I live in Spain.
Uncle's name was Edward Fowler,
Interesting thing is Uncle is described as "pensioner" on his records, and it looks as though
there is a ref. dated 1946 concerning payment of war gratuity. Am trying to find out who
if anyone, applied for this. I cannot find out if he was married, but there were some of his
siblings around, Still plenty left to do.
Sadly no photo exists. If you would like any more info just pm me.
Ian

[Janet]

Ian

Yes, I know all about Weston Mill Cemetery as I used to live on the Ham Estate overlooking the cemetery and every week I would hear the Last Post played, and when you hear it every week it does make a big impression on you.

Well, a few surprises in that programme, short as it was. I have always read that the number of casualties during the war in Plymouth was 1000 overall, excluding Service Personnel. Did I hear right when Angela spoke of 1200 children who died, never mind the adults? The two Reardon children mentioned were known by my mother, as they attended the same school as my brothers, and in fact we were living in the same house in Cecil Street until 1940, but had moved around the corner to North Road, when it was blitzed in 1941, so we had a very lucky escape.

The Portland Square Public Shelter has raged controversy from the time it happened. The first estimate of the numbers killed was about 15, which was increased to 70, but I had heard recently this figure had been increased again to well over 200. I remember local people just after the war saying that about 400/500 people were killed in that shelter so the controversy goes on but of course any service personnel killed will not be counted. Very thought provoking and brings back many memories.

Janet

[Velma Dinkley]

You can listen to it on Iplayer...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tkqs3/The_Blitz_Plymouth/

[Velma Dinkley]

I've just listened to it and it's fascinating.

Thank you for sharing that Janet