Herbert was born in Melcombe Regis in Weymouth in 1914. He joined the BBC as an engineer at Alexandria Palace in 1936. Before the worked on television which was shut down during the war. He moved to Dorset, possibly to support the expansion of the transmitters at Rampisham.
On the morning of 5th June he was taken to Southwick House to record an address by General Montgomery on the eve of the invasion. He then went to Southampton docks, seeing the men and equipment loading to leave for France.
On 22nd June 1944 he arrived in France as part of a BBC War Reporting Team as an Engineer-Correspondent. Eventually arriving in Paris towards the end of August, he met some of the maquis who had fought there. Afterwards he went on to Brussels in time to be see it liberated too. He was taken to Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar and also recorded the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials after the war.
After the war he returned to Television as the service restarted in 1946 and subsequently worked on the electronic control of lighting at the BBC Television Centre, returning to live in Sunbury. In 1956 he became head of technical operations at Lime Green Studios. Election as an Associate Member of the British Institute of Radio Engineers followed in 1958.
He married Sylvia Barbara Wright in 1946
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maiden Newton (Toller) Patrol | Patrol member | 19 Jun 1942 | 03 Dec 1944 |
BBC Maintenance Engineer
He was discharged from Auxiliary Units as "untraceable" on 3. Dec 1944. In fact he was still in Europe with the BBC War Reporting unit. It seems had had not been able to let the Patrol know where he was
WO199/3390
Ancestry.co.uk
Middlesex Chronicle 11 Sep 1959
Gillian Emery