Stanley Arthur William Day

Stanley worked as a Chief Audit Clerk, Treasurer’s Department, Ipswich Borough Council. He worked for the Council all his working life retiring as the head of the revenue section in 1969.

His son John Day recalled; "Father rarely mentioned the war and I know little about the work he did - he always said he was in the Home Guard. The only clue I suppose was in his tale about the Spitfire that crashed in the back garden of 22 Goring Road (and neighbouring gardens). The story as I recall it (maybe a little embellished in the telling!) was that the plane was in trouble and heading for Martlesham. The pilot bailed out and landed safely on Rushmere Heath where it is said he hoped the plane would also land. Clearly, it nose-dived and crashed in our garden. 

Father was called for work expecting to see major damage to houses but the only damage to the our house was one pane of glass in the bathroom broken and a chip on the inside of a pane of glass in the back bedroom. Father said the events that followed were humorous - the Air Force arrived with a low loader to remove the plane but it had disintegrated and most parts could the carried. The police also arrived and there was a dispute about which organisation was responsible for guarding the wreckage overnight. Apparently this was never resolved so both camped out in the garden! 

During the recovery of the wreckage the buried box containing father's firearms was found. This apparently led to some difficult questioning. I now know, of course, why father would have found his weapons stash difficult to explain!"

The family still have his stand down letters and the list of kit he had to return.