Sir, In the current coverage of the 1939-1945 war, the firemen are ignored. Some of the larger towns and cities had professional Fire Brigades as an extension of their Constabulary, but in the rural areas, such as Pembrokeshire, our safety rests on the shoulders of the volunteers, the auxiliaries. I would like the Observer to say 'thank you' on our behalf to all of our auxiliaries. I can only write for the Tenby men, men like my father, Jack Webb, Bill Anderson, Bill English, Stanley Thomas and very many more. They all had full-time jobs, but volunteered to serve as firemen. At any time of any day they would be summoned and reported to the Fire Station not knowing what was ahead. This applied to all the auxiliaries in the county. I can well remember the first occasion when as far as we were concerned Dad had gone missing. He and his mates were in the midst of the Cardiff blitz, on the next occasion in the Swansea blitz and on each occasion were away for three or four days. They were also part of the battle to contain and extinguish the flares and smoke at the Llanreath oil tanks. Our auxiliaries worked in shifts alongside the regular and auxiliaries from Welsh and English towns and cities. They had close experience of the hell created by warfare. Please read the pertinent books: 'Pembrokeshire Underfire' by Bill Richards and 'In Harm's Way' by Vernon Scott, and wonder at the bravery of our volunteers. I salute them all, and trust Pembrokeshire will too.
Ivor Jenkins, Cheshire.