My Wartime Story

My dad asked me to post this story.
My wartime story concerns five members of my family who were all in their late teens and early twenties during world war two.
My father and uncle both worked for the same company of ‘E.R.Watts & Co’ in Camberwell South East London. They were both serving their apprenticeships at the outbreak of war, one on the engineering side, the other on the optical grinding.
The company were high class makers of optical and surveying equipment and continued in later years as ‘Hilger & Watts LTD’ until the closure around 1968.
The company were manufacturing optical equipment for the war effort, this included bomb and gun sights for aircraft I believe. There were other items of equipment also produced alongside those mentioned.
My mother, her elder sister and a future uncle were recruited as extra staff to speed up production. All spoke of fond and happy memories of that time, mixed with fright and anguish at the times of bombing and hasty retreats to the air-raid shelters.
My father and uncle continued to work for the company until its closure. The family all lived in Peckham and all immediate members survived the war years.

Michael.C.Williams

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