DRIVE THROUGH FLAMES

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23494, 24 November 1941, Page 3

DRIVE THROUGH FLAMES

FORMER RACING MOTORIST GUNNERS TAKEN TO HOSPITAL (8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 22, How a former Brooklands racing motorist, himself wounded by bombs during an intense night air raid, drove his wounded men through lines of blazing buildings to hospital—and then drove back to his Bofors gun—is told by the War Office. The officer is Sec-ond-Lieutenant D. C. Bain, of the Royal Artillery, and on the night in question he won the Military Cross. , Second-Lieutenant Bain and his men were manning a Bofors gun and searchlight, which were stationed in the dock area, and for three and a half hours incendiary and high explosive bombs fell round them. Smoke came from blazing warehouses and cut the visibility to 50ft, making the searchlight useless. Second-Lieutenant Bain took his spare men and set to work saving what he could from the flames, including his own transport and a large quantity of Government and private property. They struggled for an hour, then Second-Lieutenant Bain saw a low-flying raider approaching. He ran back to the gun, but it had fired only one round when a stick of bombs fell very near. The first bomb blew the gun crew against their sandbags and stunned them, the second wounded Second-Lieutenant Bain and three of the gunners, two of whom were the detachment’s drivers. Someone had to get the men to safety after first-aid had been given. Second-Lieutenant Bain decided to do the job himself. He drove a -tcityk through lines of burning electric power cables, first to the dock first-aid post—which he found destroyed—then on to hospital. He then turned round and drove back to the gun. He never left it again until the raid was over.