July 2020 online Lamberhurst magazine - Flipbook - Page 1
VE DAY AND
CONTINUED
WW2
MEMORIES
Dennis Haskell’s memories of WW2 and
VE Day
Dennis Haskell was born in Mill House in
Lamberhurst, as were his father and
grandparents, and about six generations
in total. His grandfather (Henry Burrows)
played the organ at church, was a teacher
at Lamberhurst CofE School for many
years and took lots of the old photographs
of the village. Dennis’ father Arthur
Haskell was in the RAF in WW1 and stayed
on into WW2 where he was a wing
commander on the technical side, based
at Biggin Hill during the Battle of Britain.
He retired from the RAF in 1948. He was
Chair of the Lamberhurst Branch of the
British Legion for many years.
Dennis took after his father, and as soon
as he was 17, signed up for the RAF. He
was called up fairly quickly. He did his
basic military fitness training at Skegness,
and then transferred to Melksham in
Wiltshire to do his “trade training” as an
electrician. After that he was posted to
Fairford, with Squadrons 190 and 620.
After a while they were all moved to Great
Dunmow in Essex, near where Stansted
Airport is now. Dennis provided all sorts of
electrician support to major operations
during WW2, including for Arnhem, the
crossing of the Rhine by airborne troops,
and after the war, the retrieval of the
thousands of UK troops from POW camps.
He worked quite a lot with Stirling aircraft,
a four engine plane, which started life as a
bomber but was then overtaken by
others. Stirlings were then used as tug
planes to get gliders to where they
needed to be.
Dennis said he had a very interesting and
exciting time during the war. He doesn’t
really remember VE Day very clearly – it
was another working day for him – but he
does remember that a group of them
went to a village near Great Dunmow in
the evening and drank the pub dry! After
WW2 Dennis spent two years in Germany
at Hamburg airport which he really
enjoyed.
In 1948, Dennis met his wife Lois and
decided to leave the RAF. They married in
1953 and moved to Furnace Lane where
he still lives. Dennis was a churchwarden
at St. Mary’s for many years, his wife Lois
rang the bells and their two daughters
were in the church choir. Dennis, like his
father, was Chair of the Lamberhurst
Branch of the British Legion for many
years. Lots of Lamberhurst memories!
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