London Fire Brigade

My Father Samuel Ralph Exworth was a full time fireman before the outbreak of the Second World War and was of an age where he was too old for the first draft of people into the Armed Services. He served in the East End of London Fighting Fires Night after Night in the Docks Area. Whilst they were firghting the fires they were still under bombardment, and land mines were a constant danger. He was on one occassion buried in a collapsing wharehouse for almost four days before they were dug out. I know other towns and cities in the UK suffered with bombing raids but it was London and the London Docks area which was the constant target of the German Airforce. Many Firemen after the war did not feel that the country acknowledged the super human effort that they all put in during those terrible times. As with all people who have gone through difficult and dangerous times the stories my Father would most tell were the amusing and funny things and not the horror of mutilated bodies and the constant fear of losing your life and also losing friends and colleages in the conflict.He always had a great affection for the Salvation Army, because he would say that as dawn broke and the bombing had stopped for another night the first people to turn up would be two ladies with a van providing Hot Mugs of Tea and Wads as he used to call them. The London Fire Brigade under very difficult circumstances provide the people of london with a wonderful service during these awful years. I was born just before the war so I was a young child during this time, but I do not remember seeing all that much of my father during this time. He was either at work or trying to sleep. I have memories of going to the air-raid shelter with my Mother and Sister and sneeking to the doorway to watch the V1 (doddlebugs) go over.

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