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Excavator Operator Standing With His Son By The Cabin c.1946

1946
Excavator Operator Standing With His Son By The Cabin c.1946

About this memory

Harry Sime, with his son, also Harry Sime.

“During the war Harry Sime worked as a bus-driver in Glasgow. When the war ended, he moved his family to Auchtermuchty in Fife and, for a time, he drove an excavator (or ‘digger’). One day, when he was transferring his excavator from one site to another along a main road, he had to pass under some electric cables. He did not realise there was not enough clearance for the extended jib of the excavator and a high-voltage current of electricity shot through the metal vehicle. Against the odds, he survived completely unscathed, thanks to his heavy-duty rubber welly-boots which had earthed him. A short article appeared in the local paper the next day describing his lucky escape. He cut it out and carried it in his wallet as a talisman for the rest of his life.” – Evelyn Whitfield

Donor number: 0101-023

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