When Ken nearly burnt the house down
Ken and his Dad
An incendiary bomb gets thrown out of the bedroom window
Mr Gordon Wiseman talks to Bob Stephen of RDCA about his wartime experiences in Gt. Wakering.
Mr Wiseman's older brother, Ken, brought home an incendiary bomb he had found at Foulness. The boys spent some time throwing it against the kerb in an attempt to set it off.
Later that day, Ken decided to throw the bomb out of the bedroom window. This time it worked and flames shot up as high as the house roof! The boys' father leapt over the garden fence to grab the buckets of water and sand stored there for just such an emergency. Having leapt back again, still holding the buckets, their father quickly put out the fire.
Needless to say, Ken got the hiding of his life for the escapade. Later in the war Ken ended up on a tug in the far east but had no further bad wartime experiences!