What Grandpa Built for D-DAY

My gramps was an engineer all his life,boy, man and old Gentleman. Before the war the cheeky fellow with red curley hair served as an apprentice engineer.During the depression, worked hard and studied too.
By the late 30's dark forces had spread over the globe and war came. He had a wife and daughter by then. Volunteered, but was declined."No you are needed at home" words that I think made him feel he was letting folk down? His abilities to read and produce accurate engineering blue prints and build the projects like some kid reads the Dandy,kept the chap busy for 6 years.He trained and guided other hands too in that time. He builtlanding craft,bridges and bridging units and pontoons during the war. Devised a system, so "they could be fit together, like a mig Mechano kit" is how he related it to me. His work was in Leeds , though he did go to the midlands and the south of england at times for his work too.
The craft and other projects he said, were built in sections.In 2,3 or more,depending on the size of the finished item.
But in such a way that;they joined up like a glove. No matter where the components were made the sections would be married together. Sometimes craft were built as a whole and towed by water for engine fitting elsewhere. Others he said would go off in sections by rail or boat to be assembled in Newcastle,the midlands or the South. It was a system of dispearsed mass production. This system ensured maximum output and efficency,protecting production. So if one place was hit (bombed) the whole lot did not stop. Other places would step up work to fill that gap.He said they had many nut , bolt and screw sizes. Whitworth , half whitworth , cross flats and Yankee. He had charts and tables telling him what was compatable. Because they could inter change some of these makes and sizes of component. The Yankee were sizes from America, he said they devised a system of commonality. So parts could be interchanged. His work hours included day or night, with days often turning into nights, sleeping under a work bench. On a raid, they threw insendury devices into the river. One night a bomb came through the roof, onto the production floor."We man handled it out into the river" he said. The mechanism inside was faulty, "still spinning down on the screw" The bomb had not yet gone off !This is the part that would hit the detinator and explode the device. They had just clear'd the steel doors when it whent off. Showering them in water,mud and muck. No one hurt !. Gramps said it would have messed up production. "We could not allow a halt in production "he said. No mention of folk being injured or worse? If the bomb had gone off many lives would not exist. 3 more children ,7 grand childeren,Me being the eldest and 8 great grand childeren would not be here today. I think this incident was in LEEDS. But memory lapse of his old age,it could be the Midlands or the South Port area's. He and his mates thought a lot of this was for the Pacific, taking back Islands and the east.
Once D-Day was under way, he knew exactly what all his work had been towards. They were told , This is your efforts lads!
During this time he took a tiny metal splinter in his eye. He still had sight but it claimed his eye 25 years later when a growth developed because of it. As kids he would play marbles with us, with his spare glass eye, amusing to us. But gran scolded him for it. She never did have a good humour. I think this is what got him and his mates through. Resigned to fate,lived life and well, found the funny things in the worst situations. When asked he would tell us all kind of things, sometimes though he would go quiet. When war film were on telly. The landing craft going in," we built them " he would say and become a little distant,water in his good eye.I wish he had written things down but he did't.So I can only convey his memories for him. His heart gave up,not him and he left us for the workshop in the sky in 1995. May be you rode a craft or crossed a bridge built by him. He did not fight but helped build the steel road,that took the ethics of liberty and decency,to light the then dark heart of Europe and Berlin. After the War he built Gas towers and other speciallist large sealed steel containers.Some are probably in service around Leeds and other parts of the UK today. Not as interesting as his war work he though he said.

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