Eric Harrisons wartime RAF & D-Day memories.
Eric was initially employed as a civilian in the RAF following the recommendation of a senior officer who was very pleased with Eric's work on his car (Eric worked in his father's Rover car garage in London)
One of Eric's tasks was to requisition lorries from the London breweries for the RAF to use, he didn’t bother with one of the Breweries but a senior Officer ordered him to requisition their lorries – Eric knew this was a bad idea because the brewery only had horse drawn lorries but he followed orders & shortly afterwards a load of hay bales arrived at their depot to feed the horses when they arrived.
During his RAF training Eric spoke out during a lecture to advise the lecturer the vehicles he was talking about were in fact obsolete in the RAF!! Eric was called into an office by an Officer & instead of the expected reprimand he was promoted to Sergeant & given the instructors job !!
When the war started Eric was posted to 7MU at Old Sarum airfield in Gloucestershire. Lily was already working for the NAAFI near there but didn’t like it very much as they had old lead-lined sinks & it was heavy work. The MU were looking for a store person & Eric put Lily forward for the job. Eric borrowed his landlords (Mr Pond) car to take Lily to the interview. Lily was offered the job which meant that Eric & Lily could see each other more often especially as the gardens of their digs backed onto each other – their landlords opened a gap in the fence for them to see each other more easily.
They were together like this for 3 years during which time they got married in Gloucester registry office. After 3 years Eric was posted to France & later to India. Often Eric received spares overseas that had been issued by Lily from Old Sarum 7 MU, he used to keep the yellow section of paperwork with her signature on. Eric carried a pixie charm with him right through the war that Lily gave him & he still has it to this day. Eric was 27 years of age when he went to France.
To get over to France Eric & his men were to go across the channel in landing craft, the landing craft used by the Royal Navy had 3 x 100hp Crosley diesel engines fitted & the craft Uncle Eric was to go on had a fuel problem – Eric knew the engine type & the problem which was that the fuel system needed bleeding but the RN Officer wouldn’t let them fix it. He said they were RN equipment & only to be worked on by RN engineers consequently Eric & his men waited 3 days to get across the channel which may have actually saved their lives as it was 3 days after D-Day itself when so many died. It was absolute chaos said Eric.
During their landing Eric was asked to drive one of the DUKW amphibious vehicles which he duly did helping to transport personnel & equipment from the RN ships onto the beaches. Their first load was teelphone cables which nearly sunk the DUKW !!
Because they were 3 days late in France they were late in preparing one of the required airfields in France. They were told to make “all haste to Caen” which they duly did however en-route an Army officer told them to stop becauSe Caen was still under enemy control & being heavily attacked !! Eric & his men found a deserted farmhouse in a village called Mauvain approximately 1km South of Arromanche. They took refuge in it until it was safe to continue on their journey. (After the war Eric took his wife Lily to see this farmhouse)
During Eric's time in France he was instructed to re-fuel the fighters with pool petrol but he refused knowing the fuel would seriously damage the engines due to it’s low octane rating. Aircraft fuel eventually arrived but in 4 gallon tins re-inforced with cardboard, Eric said they wer so flimsy the handles fell off ! They only had enough to re-fuel 3 aircraft but eventually proper fuel supplies were established.
Later in France Eric & his men were stationed in Tiercelet for 10 days recovering a downed RAF Typhoon fighter.
On arrival Eric had to report to the HQ AAE (Head Quarters of the American Army in Europe)where he met General Bradley to report that the unit had arrived in Tiercelet. General Bradley asked Eric if there was anything that his men needed and Eric said that they were running out of food supplies. General Bradley authorised him to go into Luxembourg to collect supplies for his men. When he arrived at the stores base to collect the food supplies the base Administrator said that the minimum supplies provided were for 100 men!! Eric was thrilled to realise that he would be able to feed his 20 men plus the villagers of Tiercelet!! After such hardships under the Nazi occupation this must have felt like Manna from heaven. They were all so grateful and excited to have American food!! General Bradleys generous help must have improved the morale of both Erics men & the French villagers no end, he was a great leader.
Whilst based in Tiercelet Eric befriended a lovely lady Madam Luciene Velle (at the time approximately 70) who cooked meals for all the 20 men in his unit. She treated Eric like her own son. There was a little girl Marie (about 5 years old) who would play by the church with lots of the other children of the village and she and Madam Luciene Ville would often be together. Eric authorised the use of their RAF Queen Mary transporter for the children to go to school in until they were ready to load the aircraft onto it for return to the UK.
One of the men in Eric's unit fixed the lights in the church because the Germans had fired them all out at the beginning of the war. The officer who fixed the lights wired them to the main electricity supply and so the church got free lighting. The villagers were all so happy to have their church lights again. Eric found an old box brownie camera with film in a deserted chemist store & took photos of the village & youngsters from the village playing on their RAF crane and vehicles. He also took many pictures of the Maginot line and since looking on the internet we see that it has remained unchanged.
Later during Eric's time in Europe around V.E Day his men came across a broken down motor coach that was taking refugees to Brussels airport for re-patriation. Eric fixed the problem with the coaches contact breakers which required a new capacitor (condensor) for which they had a suitable spare.
One of the Belgium officials told Eric that his good deed would not be forgotten. Some time later after the war Eric received a letter to advising him that courtesy of the Belgium government Eric & his wife were to have an all expenses paid holiday in Belgium as a thank you. During the holiday in Belgium Eric met the official who promised that his good deed wouldn’t be forgotten & it transpired this gentleman was head of the Belgium Secret Service & tracked Eric down in the UK to repay his kindness in repairing the coach.
Eric is now aged 96 & still as spiritedly as ever.
