Charles Munnery biography
Title
Charles Munnery biography
Description
Recounts Charlie's service in the Royal Air Force as a flight mechanic. Provides account of accident when he was hit by ricocheted bullet and its lifelong effect.
Creator
Language
Type
Format
Printed document
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
MMunneryC1861258-160203-01
Transcription
Charles Munnery Rank Leading Aircraftman R A F Trade Flight Mechanic Oct 1942/ Oct 1945
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"Million to one chance". My farther -in-law Charlie was stationed in Lincoln maintaining Lanchester Bomber's. He was born 13/07/1913 and volunteered to join up in 1942, but as he was a active farmer in Wiston West Sussex he had to agree to return back to the farm for collection of the harvest each year. It was on one of these vists in 1945 whilst driving a Ferguson open tractor across a field that he WAS HIT BY A RICOCHETED BULLET fired by a Canadian soldier based at Wiston House who was shooting rabbits ! He fell off the tractor and crawled nearly a mile back to his mother's Tied Cottage where he told his Mother that he had been shot but she did not believe him as she could not see a entry wound or any sign of blood, it was only when he was X Rayed that they discovered a LIVE BULLET HEAD BEHIND HIS LEFT EYE which had entered though his EAR.
We have all original newspaper cutting regarding his time in hospital while awaiting for a surgeon in London to remove the "" LIVE BULLETT FROM AIRMANS BRAIN Sunday Chronically Dec 30 1945. Due to this incident Charlie always worn a Patch over his left eye as it would give him blurred vision. Although he was a good dart's player, even qualified for News of the World Championship's Charlie died from a unrelated illness 06/03/1996 age 82
He was discharged from the R A F on 18/10/1945 due to this incident ( have original discharge certificate No 1861258) Also have photo of total maintenance Crew and Charlie in uniform. He told me stories of taxiing Lancaster's after mission still with body parts in them. Changing 96 spark plugs from stepladder 's etc
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"Million to one chance". My farther -in-law Charlie was stationed in Lincoln maintaining Lanchester Bomber's. He was born 13/07/1913 and volunteered to join up in 1942, but as he was a active farmer in Wiston West Sussex he had to agree to return back to the farm for collection of the harvest each year. It was on one of these vists in 1945 whilst driving a Ferguson open tractor across a field that he WAS HIT BY A RICOCHETED BULLET fired by a Canadian soldier based at Wiston House who was shooting rabbits ! He fell off the tractor and crawled nearly a mile back to his mother's Tied Cottage where he told his Mother that he had been shot but she did not believe him as she could not see a entry wound or any sign of blood, it was only when he was X Rayed that they discovered a LIVE BULLET HEAD BEHIND HIS LEFT EYE which had entered though his EAR.
We have all original newspaper cutting regarding his time in hospital while awaiting for a surgeon in London to remove the "" LIVE BULLETT FROM AIRMANS BRAIN Sunday Chronically Dec 30 1945. Due to this incident Charlie always worn a Patch over his left eye as it would give him blurred vision. Although he was a good dart's player, even qualified for News of the World Championship's Charlie died from a unrelated illness 06/03/1996 age 82
He was discharged from the R A F on 18/10/1945 due to this incident ( have original discharge certificate No 1861258) Also have photo of total maintenance Crew and Charlie in uniform. He told me stories of taxiing Lancaster's after mission still with body parts in them. Changing 96 spark plugs from stepladder 's etc
Collection
Citation
Mrs M Aldington , “Charles Munnery biography,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed October 5, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/57725.