Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website

Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website



Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.


206806

Leading Fireman Dennis Herbert Poole

National Fire Service

from:Malmesbury

My father, Dennis Poole served in our local fire service at Malmesbury, Wiltshire. He served right through the WW2 and up until 1961.

I know one particular story he used to tell us and that was about an aircraft that crashed on the outskirts of Malmesbury. When Malmesbury Fire Service got to the site there was very little left of the plane and the bodies of the fliers had been buried in the earth with the plane. So the family of these airman could have coffins my father said they put stones into the coffins to weight as if they had bodies inside. I have recently learnt that this plane was an experimental plane and my father and his colleagues were told to keep quiet as to the sort of plane involved.

I am trying to get some information about another incident involving my father during WW2. It was during the blitz on Bristol and because of the scale of this blitz the fire service called in all the engines from as far afield as Malmesbury. When they got to Bristol they were told where to go and the raid was still going on. My father was up the top of one of the longest ladders and while he was up there fighting the fire there was a blast at the bottom of the ladder and when he descended the ladder he found a lot of his colleagues had been killed by the blast. I have been told he was awarded a commendation for helping his colleagues in the face of continuing during a raid. I am quite confident the story is true but would love to find some more information as to the award given to my father.

My father was also involved in saving a young boy's life from drowning after he fell into a river at the bottom of his house. For this he was awarded a resuscitation certificate from The Royal Humane Society in September 1943.



Please type your message:     

We recommend you copy the text about this item and keep a copy on your own computer before pressing submit.
Your Name:            
Email Address:       @

**Please type the first part our your email in the first box (eg. john.smith) the @ sign is added automaticallly, please type the second part in the second box (eg. gmail.com). Do not enter your full email in each box or add an @ sign or random spaces.**

Please type in the code shown here: CAPTCHA Image   

If you are unable to read the code please click here.

If you have received an error message for incorrect code, please click to refresh the code before resending. This should overcome the error message.