Bertie Batch remembers rushing his family to safety in the Norwich Blitz of 1942, while his dad served as a fire watcher in Prince of Wales Road.

Eastern Daily Press: Norwich — 2nd World WarJunction of Barn Road/Grapes Hill and St. Benedicts. Regal Cinem a (Rear) and the Barn Tavern showing Bomb DamageDated — No Date GivenPhotograph C1723Norwich — 2nd World WarJunction of Barn Road/Grapes Hill and St. Benedicts. Regal Cinem a (Rear) and the Barn Tavern showing Bomb DamageDated — No Date GivenPhotograph C1723

Aged just 15 years old, he was in the Civil Defence Messaging Service, normally found cycling around the city's streets conveying information from bombing sites back to the ARP headquarters.

Now 87 and still living in Norwich, Mr Batch, who was known as Albert as a youngster, is looking for people who were in the messaging service at the same time as him.

He is trying to reapply for his National Service medal, which he lost some time after he got married in 1952.

'For me to get another medal, they need to know what company I was in,' said Mr Batch.

Eastern Daily Press: NORWICH2ND WORLD WAR BOMB DAMAGERAMPANT HORSE STREETDATED 30TH APRIL 1942PLATE P0927NORWICH2ND WORLD WAR BOMB DAMAGERAMPANT HORSE STREETDATED 30TH APRIL 1942PLATE P0927

'All I know is we were based at Chapelfield East - and there is a police station there now.'

Mr Batch said there were other centres for those working at the messaging service, with one on Ipswich Road and a tin hut in Sussex Street where they trained in first aid and firefighting.

'I was 15 when I joined, but I should have been 16,' he said.

'A lot of us were. It was the attraction of a sustinance allowance and a cycle allowance, which added up to three or four shillings a week.'

Mr Batch has been trying to find the medal for many years, and with Remembrance Day approaching, his thoughts have returned to his work during the war.

'I lived in Lakenham and Americans were coming in from one of their daylight raids,' said Mr Batch.

'All of a sudden we saw a trace of bullets going between the the plane and it came down opposite the Hewett School playing fields. We found one of the pilots killed. We were the first ones there because we followed it down.'

Were you in the Civil Defence Messaging Service in Norwich during the Second World War? Can you help Mr Batch identify the company he was in?

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