My Father on the Home Front

Joseph Brooke Bates 1905 — 1998

My father was an assistant manager in the Coop at the start of the 2nd World War. He was called up in 1941 and began training as an aircraft mechanic. However, within three months, his duodenal ulcer burst and he had to be discharged with ill health. He returned to work at the Coop and became an air raid warden and bomb reconnaissance officer. Throughout the war he kept a diary and I have those for 1941, 42, 43 and 45.
He also told me about incidents from the war which I wrote down verbatim. I will put these on the web site along with excerpts from his diary.

1942
There were planes flying over Warsop (Nottinghamshire) to bomb Sheffield. There must have been hundreds of them. After they had passed we went to Sheffield on the bus to see if Uncle Tom and Aunt Annie were all right. There was so much damage we couldn’t find their house, it had disappeared. We found out later that their son had been and collected them and that they were safe.

1943
The first pick a back bomb to land in England landed and exploded in a field near to Warsop Windmill (Nottinghamshire). It sent potatoes flying all over. As the local bomb reconnaissance officer I was sent to investigate. The Home Guard were in the field and I wouldn’t go in until they left. I looked at the bomb but had no idea what it was. I reported the bomb to the authorities in Lincolnshire and an officer came to see me at the Coop. I was ashamed that I could not recognise the bomb but neither could he! He came back two days later to say it was a pick a back bomb.
The only damage was to Wood St Coop, Warsop (two miles away) where the windows were shattered.

1942
I was called to investigate a German plane that had crash-landed at Warsop Vale (Nottinghamshire). It ended up in the railway embankment. I had to see if there were any unexploded bombs. Standing by the plane were two German airmen, completely unharmed but shivering with shock. Several of us escorted them to Warsop police station. There were no unexploded bombs.

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