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This story was submitted to the People's War by Liz Andrew of the Lancs ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard on behalf of Harold Clayton and has been added to the site with his permission.

I volunteered for the RAF in 1940 when I was 18. My dad had been in World War One and he had told me all about it so I was determined NOT to go into the Army. We did our square bashing and basic training at Squires Gate in Blackpool and I trained there as a Flat Mechanic Engineer. Then I ws posted to Dalton near Thirsk;there was an aerodrome at Top Cliff. We were repairing planes to send off to Germany. Life really was a doddle.

From Top Cliff I was sent to Pocklington then to Elvington and Marston Moor.I spent five years working on the Merlin engines for Halifax bombers.We used to go to the pub and I remember I smoked about 40 cigarettes a day - they were 11d for 20. We used to live in barracks - big huts with maybe 40 beds in them. It was at Dalton that we had the biggest laugh - the huts there were smaller. The showers were about a mile away so we used to get washed in the fire bucket - all 40 of us. And the toilets were just a long bench with buckets underneath! Till then I 'd only lived with my mum and dad - I'd been camping once before with the Sunday School.

I was terribly shy - I used to go out with my mother's cousin's daughter - she was a right bonny girl - but I didn't dare to talk to girls. Then my mum's next door neighbour said, " Why doesn't your Harold take Chris out?" I had a friend called John who asked me to be his best man - and the week after that he said he'd be MY best man
- he had done my proposing for me...

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