NOSTALGIA: This week in 1917 and 1972 and a snapshot from 1982

Here we see the queue in December 1982 for tickets to see Boston United take on Third Division Sheffield United and their million-pound team in the second round of the FA Cup at York Street the following week.

* A Boston man had become the sole survivor of a German attack on a steam trawler from the town.

Joseph Mason had been mate or second hand on the ill-fated vessel, the Dalmatian.

Before being rescued, Joseph – who lived with his wife and family in St John’s Road – spent six days and five nights in an open boat on the sea.

Another view of the Boston United/Sheffield United queue.

At the time of writing, he was being held as a Prisoner of War, at Brandenburg.

Food and clothing had been sent out to him by the local Interned Fishermen’s Fund and gratefully received.

The Dalmatian had just been bought by Messrs Stringer Brothers from the Boston Fishing Company, which earlier in the conflict saw its trawler Brothertoft sunk with no survivors.

* Sgt C. Leary, of Old Leake, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

A friend of his at the Front, Fred Bishop, told the paper that when their battalion went over the top Sgt Leary had been Company Sergeant Major and showed ‘great gallantry in keeping up communication between the platoon and the company headquarters, he being exposed to intense machine gun and shell fire the whole of the time’.

This week in 1972 ...

* Only two weeks after the premises was redecorated, an articulated lorry crashed into the public bar of the Angel Inn, Sutterton.

“Thank God it wasn’t in opening hours – that spot is just where one of our regulars sits and plays dominoes,” said Ida Kitchen.

No one was injured in the crash, but a gaping hole was left in the corner of the pub.

Four years earlier, a lorry carrying pickles and fruit juice had taken away the same section of the building.

* Norprint’s Sue Thornalley had been named Miss Secretary of Boston.

The competition had been organised by the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Sue’s prize included a cruise for two to Holland and Belgium.

* A former Luftwaffe night fighter pilot was the special guest of the Lincolnshire Aviation Society.

Herr Wilhelm Herget made his name in Germany during the Second World War as an aerial ace, shooting down 71 bombers.

He spoke to members of the society at a special meeting at the Mill Inn, Boston, talking about his war time experiences, how he learned to fly, and also the Common Market.