Appeal to find family of heroic Sheffield firefighters who died during the blitz

An appeal has been launched to trace surviving relatives of two heroic Sheffield firefighters who died during the blitz.
The blitz in Sheffield.The blitz in Sheffield.
The blitz in Sheffield.

Norman Elliot, aged 35, and Fredrick Parkes-Spencer, aged 36, both died during the bombing raids that wreaked havoc across the city on December 12 1940 during the Second World War.

Norman lost his life at Union Street, while Fredrick was killed at Charles Street. Both had been members of the Sheffield Police Fire Brigade.

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South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is now planning to honour them by naming two new meeting rooms at its Eyre Street headquarters in memory of the firefighters.

They would like to let their families know and are urging anyone with information about them to email [email protected]

Codenamed Operation Crucible by the Germans, the raids on December 12, 13 and 15 saw hundreds of Heinkel 111, Dornier 17 and Junker 88 bombers drop many thousands of tonnes of ordnance on Sheffield over a period of nine hours.

The raids led to the deaths of about 600 people, while 500 were seriously injured.

In addition, 3000 houses and shops were damaged beyond repair and altogether around 82,000 properties were damaged.