Tag: British Homefront during WW2

WW2 Training Film for US Soldiers: How to Behave in Britain 1943. This must have been a culture shock for newly arrived GI’s

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British Homefront during WW2: Marion Patterson GM (1911-1993)

Portrait at the IWM
On 7 August 1942 whilst serving as a Scottish fire warden she was part of a team extinguishing a large fire at a burning building after an air raid. She was inside the building when she heard cries for help coming from under a collapsed wall and found a sailor seriously injured. Whilst surrounded by smoke an flames she called for a rope to be lowered and after tying it around the sailors waist he was hoisted to safety. Within less than a minute after Patterson left the building the walls collapsed.
On 12 February 1943 Marion Patterson was awarded the GM by King George IV and the king also commissioned this portrait of her which was displayed at the National Gallery. (IWM) 

Alan Malcher.

Flight Lieutenant Eugene Seghers (Belgium) RAF (VR)

British Homefront during WW2.

Belgium fighter pilot Eugene Seghers RAF (VR). His memorial plaque in Walden Uckfield, East Sussex states: “Flight Lieutenant Seghers took off in his Spitfire from RAF Deanland to intercept V1’s (Anti-driver patrol) South of Uckfield. He failed to destroy a Doodlebug after intense cannon fire, its engine cut out, meaning that its terrible descent towards the town was imminent. Flight Lieutenant Seghers courageously attempted to deflect the high explosive flying bomb away from Uckfield using his aircraft’s wing. Near this location at 14:22 he made contact with the bomb causing it to detonate, destroying the Spitfire and killing the brave airman instantly. Sub Alis Gloria” (Under Wings of Glory) 26 July 1944.

Alan Malcher.