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This is the story of my dad A/B Arthur Blacketer who served on the destroyer Bedouin. The Bedouin was part of the Home Fleet that sailed to Scapa Flow and came up against the Germans in Norway at the battle of Narvik she was also on red alert as the British fleet stood by to repel the expected German invasion. She spent some of her time on the Artic convoys and on the dangerous Russian runs beyond the Artic circle. Then off she went to on the Malta convoys. By this time Commander Scurfield took over and my dad served as his Steward. Bedouin took part in Operation Harpoon, the Bedouin was in a very bad way, she had been hit 12 times and finally she took an aerial torpedo and eventually went down.

My dad was with the Bedouin all through this and took a wound to his leg from a blast from a shell. He was just regaining consciousness from the operation to repair his leg when the torpedo hit. The Commander went to my dad’s side and asked him if he wanted to go down with the ship or try his luck overboard. Dad was thrown over the side with the Commander alongside of him. They were in the water for half an hour and were then picked up by one of the life rafts. The injured went inside and the able bodied swam alongside or took turns in the raft. The Commander stayed in the water for the whole 9 hours it took before an Italian Hospital Ship picked them up.
Dad was taken to hospital on Pantellaria Island. Dad was transferred to Trapani in Sicily and then onto a prison camp just outside Rome and finally to a camp near Genoa. Whilst he was in that camp he met one of his cousins Sapper Albert Hooper, when he was finally repatriated he actually came home with another cousin Fred —(a twin brother to Albert).

Dad said that without the Red Cross parcels they would have been very badly off for food, they were given a penny roll in the morning and stew in the afternoon. Everything had to be bought out of their pay, which was one lira a day; they were also given 5 cigarettes a day. Dad finally left Italy on the 13th April and passed through France and Lisbon. The French people wanted to give them coffee and cigarettes but Hitler’s orders were that no food was to be given to the English prisoners.

Dad brought back from Italy a beautiful silver coloured crucifix and a rosary which an Italian lady took from her neck and gave to him saying that her son was a prisoner of war in England and that she hoped it would bring him luck. He was also taken, as were some other Catholic POWs to be blessed by the Pope.
Both the crucifix and the rosary are now in the possession of his Grand-daughter Sarah and will be kept in the family as a reminder of Arthur and also a reminder of what can happen during war.

Commander Scurfield was taken POW along with the rest of Ship’s company was later killed by friendly fire whilst in a Prison Camp. His wife kept in touch with my mum with Christmas cards and letters for many years. My Dad finally died in 1970, not of his wounds but of cancer. However his wounds kept him company for the rest of his life as he now had one leg shorter than the other and wore specially raised boots and he remained in constant pain. A very painful reminder of his war.

Sylvia Willingale

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