Cyril Demarne

Cyril Thomas Demarne, (7 February 1905 – 28 January 2007) was a British firefighter. He served in London during the Second World War, throughout the Blitz. He was later involved in establishing aviation firefighting units in Australasia and in Beirut. In retirement, he wrote several books based on his wartime experiences.

Early life Demarne was born in Poplar, London, the eldest of three sons and two daughters of a City clerk; when his father lost his job through illness, the family's living standards suffered: "Sometimes we sat in the dark, for there was no penny for the gas." Demarne recalled seeing, as a boy, troops marching from Woolwich through the Blackwall Tunnel with horses pulling the guns. Most distinctly, he remembered the Zeppelin raids on London in 1915 and witnessing the downing of the Schütte-Lanz SL11 (1916) for which William Leefe Robinson was awarded the Victoria Cross. Those dramatic events were a precursor of the relentless bombing of the capital 25 years later.

He joined the West Ham Fire Brigade in 1925 and was a Sub-Officer instructing the Auxiliary Fire Service when war was declared.

World War II He spent the period from September 1940 to May 1941 serving in West Ham, one of the most heavily bombed areas in the country.

The first day of the Blitz (7 September 1940), Demarne recalled a "lovely sunny day. It was about There were about 300 German aircraft. Some detached and flew along the waterfront from North Woolwich to the tidal basin, bombed the big factories along the River Thames".

The first raid was followed by 57 consecutive nights of bombing; after one night off, when the German aircraft were hampered by bad weather, the air raids resumed until 10 May 1941. A sculpture by John W Mills has become the National Firefighters Memorial, erected to the south of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1991, and elevated and rededicated in 2003.

Demarne was married in 1930. His wife died in 1986. He is survived by two daughters.