- Contributed byÌý
- cambsaction
- People in story:Ìý
- Valerie Doty talking about Herbert George Arthur Osborn (her father)
- Location of story:Ìý
- Stationed at Chatham, intially
- Background to story:Ìý
- Royal Navy
- Article ID:Ìý
- A7944500
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 21 December 2005
I was three and a half when my father went missing in action — it was at the siege of Malta: April 28, 1942. They are not sure whether he was killed by a German or Italian bomb or by a mine. He was on a submarine called the Urge, travelling between Malta and Alexandria in a convoy of five; his was the last in line and that was the submarine that didn't get through.
This was to destroy our lives; my mother was about 19 years old at the time and because she was so young, she could not cope with his death and being left on her own. She got in with a bad crowd and began to drink heavily and to gamble and that started a pattern which she was to follow for 50 odd years and it was traceable to that event in the war. As a consequence, my sister and I were left to bring ourselves up as best we could.
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