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I was on duty with the Barrage Balloons. It was pouring with rain so we were indoors on the edge of a field near the Railway. I was around 18 years old. My job revolved around making sure that the Barrage Balloons were placed in the right position, because of the way the wind blew. On this occasion it was at rest at this time, this meant that the balloon which was tear drop shaped had tail fins and little fins on the side; it looked just like the back end of an aircraft. I looked out of the window and I could see that it had gone! I reported it to “Chiefy” and I said I wanted to report the loss of No. 1 site balloon, he said “well all I can say is you had better go out and look for it”; this was about one or two o’clock in the morning; it was still pouring hard with rain. I said I was not going to look for it in this weather; the chief said if I did not look for it (in this weather) I would be on a charge, so I said “right then I am on a charge”.

The Chief came down from Head Quarters and got us out of bed! After an altercation he said, “you are on a charge, come and see me in the morning”, and so in the morning I went up there and my punishment was to darn 120 pairs of sea boot socks: it took me three weeks of darning, eight hours a day, six days a week. The balloon had blown over into the next field where it was collected by someone else and it had burst so we had to have a new one!

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