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Air Raids

Heroes Remember

Air Raids

Transcript
My air raids, my experience started before I was in the Navy. We had, Leicester was really fortunate. It had relief from the constant blitz of London. But we had one or two bad.. I'll never forget my father, after the war started, decided that we had what we called French windows, windows with panes of glass. He thought, "Well, we will take some precaution," so he bought some three-ply and put a cover of three-ply wood outside the French windows, thinking, probably, that might be helpful. Well, one raid we had, my mother and I sat in that room where the French window was, on the chesterfield and we had a raid and a fairly, I believe, small bomb had fell down next door, away. We heard the whistle and, coming down, and for some reason, and the explosion. I helped my mother to get over the chesterfield next to the wall then we both crouched down. Well, this plywood that the, that the blast didn't do anything with it and all the glass went flying across the room. But we were alright, but we were behind the chesterfields. That scared me considerably and I thought well this is, this is really war!
Description

Mr. Sperry describes the sound of an air raid and how it became real when his home town was bombed.

Bishop John Sperry

Mr. Sperry was born on Leicester, England, in 1924. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and served until 1946 on Destroyer, Escort and Convoy Duty. Upon completion of his tour of duty, Bishop Sperry immigrated to Canada in 1960, serving parishes in Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine) and Fort Smith. He served as diocesan bishop from 1973 to 1990 and is the author of Igloo Dwellers Were My Church, a memoir of his ministry in the North. An accomplished linguist, he was involved in the Inuktitut Bible translation for the people of the Western Arctic. In retirement, he works with health and volunteer organizations and is Chaplain of the Canadian Forces Northern Region. On July 5, 2002, he was named to the Order of Canada.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
02:22
Person Interviewed:
Bishop John Sperry
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Branch:
Navy
Rank:
Able Seaman
Occupation:
Asdic Operator

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