Over 60,000 civilians lost their lives in the Second World War as a result of enemy action and in 1942 the Royal Charter of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was amended to ensure that all the names were recorded and that arrangements would be made for them to be appropriately commemorated.

In 1956 the names of all these casualties were recorded in Civilian Books of the Dead which were placed in an illuminated case just outside the entrance to St George’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

My father, Fred Dykes, was born in Scarborough on 4th September 1930 and ever since I was a little boy he would tell me stories of his childhood in the Yorkshire seaside town. He repeated one particular story many times, a story about the day he was playing in what he called “Little Wood”, at the rear of the gasworks on Seamer Road, at the foot of Olivers Mount.

He told me that his friend was killed in a German air raid and that he had to run and tell the boy’s mother, a very traumatic experience for a boy of 9 years old. My dad told me that his friend was hit on the head by a brick and that he fell instantly and lay on the ground motionless and lifeless. He never told me the boy’s name, but I never forgot his story.

Just before he died my dad also gave me a box of old photographs containing a crumpled photo of him enjoying a day on the beach with two friends . Thanks to on-line research, social-media, and a bit of luck along the way, I now know that the boy who was killed was Ernest Desmond Gates (Ernie), who lived at 18 Quarry Mount, just a few doors away from my dad. I’ve also been able to confirm that the two friends beside my dad in the old crumpled photo are Ernie and his sister Pat.

Ernie is commemorated on a panel on the Scarborough War Memorial dedicated to all those who were killed in air raids. He is also commemorated by the CWGC in the Civilian Books of the Dead in Westminster Abbey. Ernie is buried in an unmarked grave in Dean Road Cemetery, Scarborough.

So, why did my dad keep telling me the story, it must have been for a reason? I'm convinced that he wanted me to ensure that his friend would never be forgotten. My dad died on 3rd July 2021 and it’s now my duty to keep my promise - to share Ernie’s story and keep his memory alive.

The next incident was on the Thursday afternoon of 15th August 1940 when a two-engine Junkers JU-88 bomber flew over the town. Flying very low it circled the town once and then headed down Seamer Road after machine gunning trawlers in the bay. It then dived on some workmen at the Gasworks in Seamer Road and machine gunned them.

It injured Walter Scott aged 45 yrs of 9 Mount Cottages, Fred Kenyon aged 40yrs of 57 Seamer Street, Arthur Heelbeck aged 27yrs and John Shipley aged 39yrs. They were all treated at the Hospital where Shipley was said to be rather poorly. Two other workmen, George Hopper aged 29yrs and George Manson aged 33yrs who were also injured were allowed home.

The plane then dropped 4 bombs, one of which did not explode but buried itself deep in the ground. Walls of the Gasworks were damaged but more serious was the death of an 8yr old boy (Ernest Desmond Gates) who had been playing in Purnells Wood above the Gasworks with his friend. Thinking it would be safer, he started to go home but ran right into the blast of the bombs.

The raider then flew out to sea followed by British fighters. Black smoke was seen to come from the plane which crashed into the sea shortly after. There is still a crater to be seen to this day in the field above where the Gasworks stood. The Germans issued a communiqué to the effect that serious damage had been done to the harbour.