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Tanks were parked along Letchworth Gate during the War. Many people remember seeing them there.
I remember being down here going along Letchworth Gate and you had a tank trap and as you go out of Letchworth Gate either side was sort of built up concrete sides where the tanks used to park there. They were probably parking because some of them were built at K and L (or Jones Cranes). They used to make the trucks for the tanks.
I remember picking flowers along Letchworth Gate and then there were lots of huts and barbed wire so we could not go down there. Afterwards when we went there were a lot of demolished buildings and we did start going again.
My father had a little child's saddle on his cross-bar and he used to cycle me around and I can remember on several occasions being taken up Letchworth Gate which, of course, was a tank park prior to the Normandy invasion. I only have vague recollections of that - my interest in military things has grown over the years and I regret I did not take more interest then but of course, I was only a child of four or five.
There were tanks in Letchworth Gate during the war. One of my worst experiences was while the tanks were coming through. My friends Ken, Ron and I took Mrs Blows' dog, Bob, from Jackmans Place recreation ground, for a walk over the fields. The dog came with us because we played with it, and we took it all over the fields back of Resilia Sports field all the way round to Baldock and went back on the old Great North Road. We came out onto the main road and tanks in an Army convoy came by. The dog was barking at the wheels.
We went down Weston Way and walked down to where Knights Templar playing fields are now. It was a farmer's field then. There was a fence in front of us, and the dog went in front. We heard barking, and then we heard a shot. We ran round the corner and the dog was running across the field. The farmer had shot it. He said it was worrying his sheep. The dog came and lay down under one of the big trees with blood coming out of it in two or three places. The farmer told us to clear off; he was going to kill it to put it out of its misery. I had to go with Mrs Mynott to tell Mrs Blow that we had taken her dog for a walk and that it had died, so her husband had to go and collect the dog.
The field was on the Baldock to Letchworth road opposite Knights Templar School. It was the field that is now the school playing field. There were sheep in the field from the farm. I can't remember the farmer's name, but I didn't like him very much at the time. He didn't give the dog a chance to disappear out of the field. He just shot it. I don't think it touched the sheep, but they get worried. They might be in lamb or something like that. That was one of my worst experiences as a kid. I was about twelve or thirteen
During the war Letchworth Gate was all blocked off, because the Army was up there, and tanks. I used to go to St Paul's Church and get my book stamped and sometimes I used to stay to Sunday School and sometimes I used to like going up to see the soldiers and the tanks. I used to go up Letchworth Gate there. I was christened at St Paul's.
I can remember the tanks on Letchworth Gate very vividly, as a child I used to go up there quite a lot and watch them performing and such. There must have been 30 tanks up there, 15 either side.
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