Hero saved Cardiff City Hall by skin of his teeth
Brave Ronald honoured on his 100th birthday
A MAN who scaled a drainpipe with a heavy sandbag clenched in his teeth to save his city hall during a World War Two bombing raid, has been honoured for his courage on his 100th birthday.
Ronald Brignall was only 16 when he saw an incendiary bomb land on the building on February 2, 1941.
But the brave teenager stuck one 12lb sandbag in his mouth, tucked another under his arm and climbed the 25ft pipe to reach the burning roof.
He then went down to get a hose before climbing back up with it – again in his teeth – to finish putting out the flames at Cardiff City Hall.
All Ronald said at the time was his jaw was sore and he had ruined his suit. He was still just as modest on his 100th birthday.
He said: “I was only a teenager and I didn’t have any fear. I just wanted to make sure the bomb didn’t do any damage to City Hall.”
But Cardiff did not forget his courage and Lord Mayor Bablin Molik travelled to the Sussex care home where Ronald now lives to present him with a certificate, thanking him and recording his act of heroism for posterity.
She said: “I know this is a rather belated honour but it is no less heartfelt and I assure Mr Brignall and his family the whole of Cardiff expresses its gratitude for the heroics he preformed.” Ronald went on to become a wartime fire-watcher before joining the RAF in 1944. He was a rear gunner on Whitley and Halifax bombers.
His son Ian said: “He’s always been a modest man. We only knew of his heroics in Cardiff because he kept some newspaper cuttings. “Dad’s a little frail now, as you’d expect from someone who is 100. “But I know he is thrilled to have this recognition and certificate from the council. It’s a perfect present on his birthday.”