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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Margaret Walsh of The Royal Star and Garter ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ on behalf of Robert Hay and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was a Sergeant Engineer on Spitfires, but because the RAF knew I was a musician, I spent a lot of time during the war playing the organ too.

I was privileged to play in some wonderful cathedrals. I had two years in Italy - I loved the Italians; they treated me like a son. I played in Venice, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal, and St Mark's. What a feeling that was, to follow in the footsteps of Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Scarlatti. I also played in Pompeii Cathedral after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As I was driving there, the lava was flowing down the hillside, and the village of San Sebastiano was enveloped. Our windscreen was black from the lava. I remember that I played Bach's Toccata and Fugue. There was a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral, covered in jewels. Playing there was the icing on the cake.

When I got to Bologna I was badly burnt. I was holding an oil-stained rag near the fire, and accidentally kicked over a five-gallon petrol drum, and the oil splashed all over my body. I was in the RAF hospital on the edge of Mount Vesuvius. When I was beginning to improve, I got an ovation in the Sergeants' Mess for attempting to play a Chopin Polonaise on the piano with my hands covered in bandages.

My last posting was in Khartoum in the Sudan, and I played in the Cathedral at the enthronement of the newly-appointed Bishop of Sudan. All the other denominations were represented. I remember that it was a normal service, but I had to transpose all the music into the key of F.

I would have become a Flight Sergeant, but after the war I left the RAF to concentrate on my music.

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