How Gerald McNutt tried to dismantle an incendiary bomb lodged in his roof

I (Robyn) am typing this story on behalf of my mother Angela Mason.

My mother and father moved to London from Galway, Ireland just before the war. My father Samuel Gerald McNutt (Gerry) worked in the dockyards in the East End of London as an electrical engineer throughout the war. His main job was degaussing the ships when they came into harbour, often repeating the process on the same ships. This was done to remove the ships’ magnetic signature so that they wouldn’t trip the switch on the magnetic mines that the Germans laid on the seabed, which were one of Hitler’s greatest secret weapons.

My father used to try and get back home to Battersea in South London as often as possible but this was often hampered by the bombing raids and transport difficulties so he tended to spend more time in the docklands than at home. On one occasion when he made it home, he and my mother Anne and my brother and sister had to go into the local air-raid shelter. When the siren stopped, they found that their area of Battersea had been badly hit. Returning to their home they met a warden who warned them not to go inside because an incendiary bomb was lodged in the rafters of their roof.

The air-raid wardens were dashing around warning people not to go near their house and sent my mother and siblings back to the air-raid shelter to be safe. But my Dad who always thought he could solve any electrical problem said he’d be along in a minute and they only found out some time afterwards that he'd gone back to the roof to dismantle the bomb.

He was sitting astride the bomb and had started trying to dismantle it when the warden caught him and sharply told him to get back to the shelter! And so much to his annoyance, he was evicted from his own house, because he felt that a few more minutes and he would have sorted it all out without a fuss!

Later that night once my dad had been returned to the shelter, the bomb squad made the bomb safe and everyone was able to go back to bed.

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