George Greenacre
George had swopped shifts with a friend that night and was on duty at a public air raid shelter in the old ventilation shaft from the Colliery on Queen Alexander Road. He was in the habit of going to the miner’s cottages at the bottom of Queen Alexander Road and checking the elderly occupants.As he left the shelter, a single stray bomb landed directly on the entrance killing him instantly. His body was taken to the Mortuary at Church Way in North Shields and was buried four days later in Preston Cemetery after a service in Christ church.
George was a founding Scout Master along with his younger brother Frederick of the 1st Chirton Scout Troop. The original registration form quotes him as the Scout Master.
His death was devastating to everyone who knew him, he had been extremely popular and a well respected man. One of the Scouts was out doing his paper round on his bike the morning after the raid when he heard the news. At the time a bike was a rare thing as rubber needed for the tyres was in extremely short supply. He dropped his bike where he stood and ran all the way home in floods of tears.
George Greenacre is remembered on N34.09 and in the Scouts Roll of Honour 1939-45.