The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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205458 Percy Wright Bevin Boy My mother has told me that my father Percy Wright was the very first Bevin Boy from Amble. He went to sign up for the army and was told he had flat feet and would be no use for marching - he offered to prove he could walk or 'March' the enrolling officer off his feet. However, the challenge wasn't accepted - anyone who knew my Dad would agree he could probably have done this easily as he was a great walker. So to the mines he was sent, and after a short time lodging in Gosforth (while he did his training), he retuend home to Amble and served at Hauxley, then Broomhill and finally a short time at Shilbottle coal mines. After the war he went to work on the coal boats at Amble Harbour as a coal trimmer. When the coal dried up they loaded grain instead. Later in life he worked as a mini bus driver taking and collecting men to/from Shilbottle and Hampeth collieries. He talked to me about the ponies and a little about the conditions in which they worked and how far out under the North Sea they travelled each day to reach the coal seams. Hw would have been pleased that the Bevin Boys were finally being recognised and to receive a badge for their service. I think he would have liked us (his family) to have been able to claim this on his behalf. Maureen Add to this record.  Related Content: Bevin Boys Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.