Leading Air Craftsman Phillip Lamb was one of the few black Bermudian officers to serve in World War Two.

Over his time of service, he survived bombings and other life threatening incidents. And life did not slow down too much for him after the war either.

Mr. Lamb, 82, joined the military when he was 17 years old and spent the first three years of the war here on the Island with the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA).

He then volunteered for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and completed his training in Moncton, New Brunswick, with other officers from Bermuda and the Caribbean.

Mr. Lamb said he was one of only four black Bermudian officers, who were selected to serve in the RAF.

His reasons for joining the armed forces were basic ? it was all about travel and the need to use his newly acquired skills.

"I guess it was because I was daring," he said. "I had no fear and I was anxious to get away from Bermuda, although everyone was getting killed, maimed and everything else.

"The BMA camp was down St. David's area, the Battery, and we were there for three years sitting down doing nothing, but exercising, over and over ? the same thing everyday.

"When they asked for volunteers, I believe I was the first to put my name down, and luckily I was accepted. Thank God I did because at that time I was like a peacock ? I was proud then. We wanted get in the fight."

But when they arrived in Liverpool on a boat with 9,000 officers it was the Christmas of 1944.

He said: "It was rough over there, it was something else, bombs were flying everywhere and I asked myself, "Oh momma, why did I come over here?"

"You can't imagine, Coventry and London were bombed flat ? they took a beating.

"The Germans were using those V2 bombs and they were sending them over from the coast of France. The dive-bombs had so much fuel and were like rockets, and they flew over different cities. But when the fuel ran out they would dip and then come down ? bomp ? somebody had to die."

Mr. Lamb said when he arrived in the war-torn country the war was practically over, but the bombings still continued and he was out in one attack and hurt in another.

"Me and my mate, Reuben Alias, were in London on leave and he was invited to have dinner with lawyer E.T. Richards ? the first black Premier of Bermuda," he said, "We were walking down towards the college and the Germans were smart, as they were catching people coming out of the Tube.

"This bomb went off, maybe about 100 yards from us, buildings were on fire and Reuben's glasses came off.

"He fell and I remember telling him to lie down flat, when the dust cleared we could see all the English walking around like nothing had happened.

"That was the last time I saw him. He came home after that ? he couldn't take it."

Although Mr. Lamb, a St. David's Islander, was unhurt in that incident he ended up in hospital after an air raid that he thought happened on either March 3rd or 4th, 1945.

"It was one of the last raids that we had in England, I happened to be in a camouflaged building on the airfield and the Germans were using dive-bombs and they never touched one target they wanted to hit," he said.

"But we were near the exits and that's when I got myself hurt.

"The bombing was the most frightening thing. I had a good innings, although I stayed on even though I had hurt my leg."

Mr. Lamb said he was in shock for ten days and when he awoke he got the surprise of his life.

"I was in the hospital for ten days and they put me in a ward next to a German prisoner," he said, "I couldn't speak any German and he was speaking a little broken English. I was a little intimidated, but neither of us could move.

"That poor fellow ? a lot of them were killed."

Mr. Lamb said the Germans were clever and bombed at specific times ? usually at shift ends.

"They used to started bombing around the knock off hours, about 4 p.m., 12 midnight and 8 a.m.," he said. "They'd catch you when you came out of the Tube and factories.

"A lot of people were living down in the Tube or the Subway as it is known in the States."

He said another hard part of the war was losing friends and fellow officers.

"The loss of other young men was one of the toughest things to deal with," he said. "I had a buddy from Canada who got killed.

"He took up the muster and he became a pilot in the last part of the war. He must have been around 23, 24 years old, and before they made that raid on us I got news that Keith was shot down and killed. I took it hard.

"He was like a brother, he was a white boy, and I knew his parents up in Canada and they were in Calgary. His father was English and his mother was Canadian.

"He had three children and they had a big farm and when I went to see them, everyday they would ask me what were his last words."

His brother-in-law Randolph Richardson, fought down in Greece, died after a bike accident on his return to the Island.

Mr. Lamb said he survived two airplane crashes when he was an air gunner.

The pilots used to call Mr. Lamb "a lucky piece and darkie" and I could always test the engine out.

"I had two-and-six-pence so every time I up, I'd deposit my money, but this time they had a plan to scare me," he said.

"We were out at Chipping Warden and we were flying over the Midlands, near Northampton.

"I took my parachute and I put it on the cockpit floor and he told me to keep the nose up and keep the wings this way. I was so happy, I thought 'if only my momma could see me now'.

"And do you know I only flew about 150 miles, but to me it seemed like I was going around the world.

"He took over the plane, it was a Wellington Bomber, and he made that plane scream like a jet plane. I was hanging on.

"This lunatic. I was trying to get my parachute, and I was only about a foot from it, but with the gravitational force I couldn't get it.

"I must have died about six times. When I got back and I stepped down, the other airman said, 'hey darkie, how was the trip?' I won't say what I said, but they said, 'you look bloody green darkie. I was reluctant to fly after that."

After the war, Mr. Lamb volunteered for a host of assignments, which had him travelling around the United Kingdom and France and Germany to help break down equipment.

"There was nothing to do on camp and we had plenty of time off, as they had bought fellows back from Europe and Africa," he said.

"So the Commanding Officer said they wanted some volunteers to go on the PT Boats to blow up these mines, but we had to go look for them. We left from a place called Hollyhead, in Wales, and we went up the Irish Channel."

Mr. Lamb said he had asked about the length of the assignment and when he found that it was for a month he was pleased.

"This is me," he said. "It was a fast boat.

"I didn't want to be a part of that, the pilot was a real lunatic, he was drunk half the time and, instead of getting fuel when we went to Ireland, he was looking for beer and stout, although he was a nice guy.

"I stayed on for six weeks, but it was too scary. All you had to do is strike one of those things and you were history.

"They would shoot the mines down, although I never found one.

"When we got up by Scotland, I got them to drop me off in Skegness."

Mr. Lamb returned to the Island four years later after seven-years-and-eight-months continuous service. He then went to Canada to study diesel engineering.

Over the years he lost his medals and he said war historian Andrew Bermingham thought he could get them.

"When I left for England I knew I had long service, good conduct and I was a good rifle man, but that was during my army days," he said.

"But when I transferred to the Royal Air Force, I don't know what medals I got, but when I came home they didn't have the medals ready for me."

He said the medals were put in his mother's trunk before he left for college, but the family moved and his medals were never found.

He said he felt bare-chested when he was in Dockyard on Sunday.

"I felt so naked up here and everyone was sitting up with their medals," he said. "The old timers all bedecked with all their goodies on their chests."

Over 20 years later he went back to England, France and Germany for a visit.

"I went back to England in 1969, but a lot of my guys got killed," he said. "A couple of them were working in the mines and another had a trucking business.

"I enjoyed going back over there, but I couldn't handle the winters."

Mr. Lamb's pictures were on exhibition at Commissioner's House but it was his first time viewing them.

"It was quite a moving exhibition for me," he said. "It is the first time I have been up this way for years and years."