Role: Fireman, Flight engineer for RAF
Doug Lightning was born in Balby, Doncaster, on January 1, 1918. He later moved to Sheffield and was the last surviving city fireman on duty during the 1940 Sheffield Blitz. Doug was just 21 when the war broke out and was one of only 68 professionally trained firemen in the city.
He was hailed as a hero for putting out a raging fire on the roof of the Town Hall. Later, he was told that this was the nerve centre for communications in the region, and it had been kept secret so the enemy would not find out. Unlike most, Doug always spoke about the Blitz over everything else he did during his career.
Doug sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of 99, but he remembered his time during those nights until that day.
After the incident at the Town Hall during the Sheffield Blitz, a police inspector took Doug down to the basement. He was surprised at how many people were working there. The policeman said, “This is the man who saved the building,” and everyone cheered and clapped. He never forgot that.
During Doug’s 96th birthday celebrations, he said, “I still remember that first night of the Blitz, the noise of the bombs was deafening. I was scared most of the time, and there was the constant misery of being wet through, the heat scorching you, and the pain of cut hands from broken glass everywhere coupled with constant hunger and thirst.”
After the Blitz, he joined the RAF as a flight engineer in 1942 and was part of the squadron that led bombing raids over Germany. He returned to the fire brigade after the war and was based mainly at the former city centre station in Division Street for about 20 years.
Doug also worked as an insurance salesman, bar and restaurant manager, and had his own business selling sectional garages. Later, he made bird nesting boxes and donated them to schools and nursing homes.
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