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In 1941 Eric's father was injured repairing bomb damage on Southampton Central Station and died some weeks later during a heavy raid. By adding to his age, Eric was accepted in the Home Guard as a member of the 71st Hants & Isle of Wight Heavy Anti-Aircraft Unit and went to Hayling Island for training, firing A.A. guns out to sea.
"One night in six we spent at the Ack Ack gun site in Quob Lane which is still recognisable now. It was a mixed battery with men manning the guns and women the predictors and radar. The Regulars had four 3.7 guns and the Home Guard had two. An army lorry would pick us up at the Railway Works and take us to the site and if the officer was not with us we would stop at the White Swan for a pint. If the landlord had a sign outside "No Beer" he would ler US in for a half an hour and then shut down when we left. I was 16 by then, but if you were in uniform you were served just the same. We had a cooked meal when we arrived which was very good and a cooked breakfast before we left in the morning. We had two Nissen huts for the Home Guard with wooden beds and straw filled palliasses. There was a small cast iron stove in the middle and as it could be very cold in the winter we would fill it with coke 'till the flue glowed red hot."
"We, in the Home Guard, would just take off our boots and sleep in our uniforms and if the alarm bell went in the hut we would scramble into our boots put on our tin helmets and race up the track to the gun pit. I was one of the gun layers and I would get in the seat, grab the handles and follow the indicator's illuminated dial. The elevation was easy but the bearing was 360 degrees and you had to make a quick decision on the quickest way round".

AERIAL VIEW OF THE QUOB LANE ANTI AIRCRAFT GUN BATTERY SITE circa 1947

"The man on the Quadrant Elevation would yell out 'on Q.E.' and the other 'on bearing' and the number one, the sergeant, would shout 'number 1 gun ready for action'. We always beat the Regulars to it because they had to get dressed and we didn't!"
"When a plane came in range the Command Post would shout 'Fire!' and we would keep firing until they ordered us to stop. I remember a plane we engaged coming from the north right overhead and as it passed over, the rocket battery at Netley fired and we heard it dive. We were told that it crashed in the Solent and
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