LONDON 'BOBBIES'

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 119, 22 May 1945, Page 2

LONDON 'BOBBIES'

— • £ UNSUNG WAR HEROES

MANY WERE KILLED

LONDON, May 16.

There have Deen "forgotten armies" in Burma, Persia, Iceland and the Solomons, but one of the really unforgotten armies of this war is the London police force, totalling 60,000 with its auxiliary members. They faced dangers unflinchingly and died heroically, and yet have never figured in any "war casualty list." Their duties and dangers multiplied many times, London's policemen carried on so valorously that they won several George Crosses and more than 100 George Medals. Thousands lay in hospital for months, badly wounded in attempting more than their duty when the nation faced disaster in 1940. During the 1940 "blitz" 78 of them were killed and 414 seriously injured in one period of only a few nights. They were blown up and buried as bombs rained on London. During the whole period of the war over a thousand "gentlemen of the police," as Mr. Churchill describes them, lost their lives on war duty—not necessarily police duty. Deeds of Heroism Here are a few of the innumerable tales of their heroism:— When an unexploded bomb dropped in a residential area, a police sergeant and two policemen hoisted it on to a lorry and drove it to a cleared area, where it was exploded. A policeman digging in a vegetable allotment was one of hundreds who were wounded in a hit and run raid. For hours he gave first aid, then commandeered a lorry and drove the wounded victims to hospital He later went on his beat as usual and then collapsed from loss of blood. A policeman was blown through a house by the blast of a bomb which also partly demolished an air raid shelter. Although badly injured, he gave first aid to scores of victims in the shelter. Then he heard a baby cry on the fourth floor of the wrecked building. He clambered up found the baby with its mouth full of plaster and apparently suffooated; he removed the plaster applied artificial respiration and brought the baby back to life. Beyond Call of Duty After rescuing t\yo women and a baby from the cellar of a demolished house, a policeman saw a woman and a dog on the top floor. AH the floors were exposed, and the whole house was swaying crazily and about to collapse, but with two other policemen he clambered up and rescued the woman, while the other police captured the terrified dog. The house collapsed, but the policemen escaped serious injury. Those are some of the things the police did which were beyond their duty, but which they knew had to be done for humanity's sake. Officially, their extra duties consisted of preventing panic, counterespionage, watching aliens, guarding Ministers, organising the collection of scrap metal, caring for firearms issued to civilians, and watching for blackout infringements. These extra tasks hid to be carried out despite the loss of a fifth of their numbers to the service, partly compensated by the recall to dutv of 3000 police pensioners. There were also 20,000 volunteer special policemen—civilians by day and policemen by night. The actor, Jack Hulbert, to quote only one example, was a police sergeant.