Searching for details about the Canadian base at Eastbourne

[Phil Bristow]

Originally Posted by Lauren Child

The local paper (the Herald) has this more modern story:
http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/ne...-war-1-5821503

This indicates a date of August 11 1942 at 1am and either the newspaper may be able to look in the archives, or you may be able to find a copy of the original report in Eastbourne library.

LAUREN,
I just found the article you refer to with a paragraph giving a detailed account of the Aug 11/42 raid. It ends with "...it is amazing that casualties were so light - apart from the eight Canadian soldiers killed in a shelter."
That is indeed the raid my father was in. He wrote that 8 of 11 men died when they jammed together in the dark at the steps leading down to the shelter. He was at the back of the group and seconds before the bomb hit, he got a strange feeling and dove against a shed 10-12 feet away. He miraculously survived with only a leg wound. It's moving to read the account so many years later.