大象传媒

When I came down to Salford, Manchester, I went down to Ward and Goldstones for a bit 鈥� not much of a job that was neither. And then I went to Gardeners鈥� Engineering. He came down there, (what鈥檚 his name) and we were 13 weeks on strike, same as I was when I was up at Remmington Rang. I was 13 weeks on strike there as well. I was living in digs so I went up to Pat McCool and said, 鈥淗ey Pat, I鈥檓 taking my men in, I can鈥檛 live on 13 shillings a week when I鈥檝e got to pay rent.鈥�

When I came out of the Navy, I came from Glasgow to here. At first, it took me ages to get a house, a flat or whatever 鈥� about 6 or 7 years. There were people coming from Poland and that and they got given them while I was sat there waiting for one! They are dead crafty you know this Council; the ariels on the roof, they put them up for a shilling a week. I said, 鈥楪et off! I鈥檝e got my own arial! Get that off here!鈥� You know when you come out of the Airforce or the Army, they鈥檇 no chance 鈥� i.e. before this war. The people who are on the Council (Salford) and they couldn鈥檛 get a rebate when they got a house or anything, if you didn鈥檛 have a job; it took me a couple or 3 months to get it. They ask you how old you are 鈥� the minute you say I鈥檓 45 you鈥檝e had it. That鈥檚 when I got demobbed here, 鈥榟ow old are you?鈥�, I tried to get a job and I couldn鈥檛. I couldn鈥檛 get a job. It was my age that was against me. It鈥檚 against you now, you get paid off now. They ask you how old you are when you get the brew (a.k.a. the dole). They want young ones, and there are hardly any jobs for young ones. Since I鈥檝e left D.E.C., and that was in 1960-odd, the canals been shut and Trafford Park鈥檚 gone 鈥� There鈥檚 no work here now and there was no work when I worked there. The minute that canal shut, that was it, because there no way that people can put things on ships now like they used it, it鈥檚 finished. Gardners has gone hasn鈥檛 it 鈥� my mate used to work there on the gate. Imagine that, working on the gate; Millet his name was, he used to live on Lewis Street.

{When you was in the forces, how often did you get leave?} I had leave once, to come home. That was when I had survivors鈥� leave when we were sunk (HMS Cairo). I never got home again because I was over there for 3 and half years. I come home on the bloody Lancashire and never seen a funnel so big, I thought the one that I was on (King George 5 ship) was big, but this thing was 20 feet high, 21 days from Hong Kong to get to England. We come home round Cape Horn from Hong Kong to South Africa, right round, 21 days. We have been better going through the Red Sea, through the Med鈥�, but no they came all the way that way. It was a good ship. We were all lying on the bloody deck! We had half the army with us coming back. We had things from abroad. If you got to Southampton now you鈥檇 find thousands and thousands of things that had been flung over the ships when they were coming home because you wasn鈥檛 only allowed to take home so much. When you got into Southampton, you got a big green cross. They went through you鈥檙e belongings (they still do 鈥� customs), they went through over a thousand people that day and I said, 鈥淗ang on, I鈥檝e got a coffee set there made in Japan. If you open that you鈥檙e going to put it back because I won鈥檛!鈥� He never opened it. I think they restrict it now too. It鈥檚 because they want the money. If you鈥檇 of got a bottle of whiskey or whatever. Even a box of chocolates in Penang was half a crown or in Malta, if you get anything over there it鈥檚 cheaper over there than it is here. If you got something from Malta, they鈥檝e got to put 拢7 on it. They always did. There was more stuff going over the side, being dumped. There must be thousands of tons of pounds over there [in the sea].

I lost everything on the way home (medals, etc). I lost it because it went down with the Cairo [ship] 鈥� I had everything. But when I came home, I lost the old kit bag but I don鈥檛 know where I lost it, and I had my medals in there, 7 of them: Africa star, Atlantic, Mediterranean and all them from over here. That鈥檚 why I never go to the November 11th thing. I could have got replacements but it鈥檚 that many years ago and I only found out about 3 or 4 year ago that I could have got them back. Everything went. It was very upsetting because my Mam and sisters never saw them. I鈥檝e lost my wife as well as my sisters since I came home. I came home to help my Mother because my Dad had died and when I finished that, when I got my house, my mother died. That鈥檚 all I was doing, running around burying people; I buried my wife, my sister and my mother.

Being in the Navy, I lost a lot of colleagues. I lost my mate. I lost some on the Cairo [the ship that sank]. They had us running down. You know when you鈥檙e firing at these Italian ships, one of them hit the rows on the guard rail and my mate was putting empty cylinders in the mid ships and it hit him right there, his head went flying and he went, it killed him. 50 odd people on the Cairo, in the other ship: they were in the ammunition locker down below and they all went. The ship was cut in two pieces; one went that way the other went the other way. When it was sinking, the first man over the side was the paymaster and the Marines were on the deck, fire on him because the Marines were on it. But the skipper said, 鈥榓bandon ship鈥� so they brought the Wilton [ship] was alongside and we all jumped on board that and I went back and got a Oerlikon machine (gun), the round, and brought that on board, and we went back to the Rodney and finished up in Portsmouth. It took us quite a few days to get there an鈥� all, six days actually from Gib鈥�. When went out as a convoy of 13 ships and when the first ship out, the signal lights were going from the linear - North Africa and that鈥檚 how we all got sunk. The first one sunk was the Eagle, there was so many thousand on board the Eagle, that was sunk in less than 6 minutes. That was only half a day out a sea, we鈥檇 just got round the head land, then we was going up the Med鈥�, then the Manchester then the Liverpool [ships that were sunk]. Mostly [sunk by] Survoyer Bombers (who were the Italians), and Stookers. However, the worse ones were the I-Ties, they came down and that鈥檚 how we were sunk and MTB (Multi-Torpedo Boats). Out the whole 13 ships, only one got through. 12 merchant ships were all sunk. That was H-force and we came all the way from Greenock, to lose all those ships in the end.

They couldn鈥檛 have been that many survivors because the first one (the Eagle ship) was over 6000, I think. Less than 6 minutes that sank. The others caught fire. The Illustrious, I think, had all the Portside blown off. She had an Aircraft carrier and they all turned back when they got hit, they were with us. The Liverpool and the Manchester [ships], I think they got sunk but I鈥檓 not sure. The other Aircraft carrier was the Victorious. I was on the Comus. Out of the 13, we finished up going into the letter with the Ohio.

The Comus, in Hong Kong, was a good ship. We used to go playing cricket in Happy Valley, which is now a racecourse in Hong Kong. It鈥檚 the big race course, I think it鈥檚 called Shar Tin now - Where all the fellows from Dubai and that go.

While I was in there, my cousin Raymond came. He was in Tamar (a big hospital in Hong Kong). He was a sick birth attendant in there. The hospital was like a barracks. He was a sick bay tiffy, looking after all the hospital cases and that. I met him there. He was buying all these suits and everything. You could get suits for a dollar or something like that. It was only 1/3 a dollar. I was on tiger beer. It was a nice place. I used to go in the fleet club there and play what they call housey-housey (Bingo). I would always win in the double house. I won it every time.

Although I was in the Navy and unable to get home, I was still able to get sure leave in the Bay Francis. You didn鈥檛 get LMPA (living allowance). You could have taken the wife out there. This is what happens when you鈥檙e in the Navy or the Army or whatever 鈥� in the Navy you paid for your own clothes. In the Army and Airforce they don鈥檛. You got a 1 and a tenor allowance 鈥� this is when you鈥檙e a boy 鈥� and that goes on your allowance for when you鈥檙e buying clothes. We had our own vicklidge stores. If you wanted to buy a meal, you went and bought it out of the vicklidge store. You had to buy your meals if you were on vicklin allowance (on the Comas or whatever, Destroyers). And you made your meals. It was all shattered with hot water making the tea. They had dock boards down and I got scalded in Ross Eye when I came from Pompey. The only place where you got your meals [supplied free] was if you were on these big ships, KG5, the Trancer or whatever. But if you鈥檙e on a Destroyer or a small ship, you were on vicklin allowance 鈥� you pay for your meals, it comes out of the vicklin stores.

I used to be Ron thingy when I was onboard the Witch Shed (an old time Destroyer, 3 or 4 funnels). We went over to Norway when I was at Ross Eye, just before VE Day and we had to go to Norway. This was on May 8th and the war hadn鈥檛 bloody finished when we got there. And we went to Burgon, Christiansons and all round there, Tronyon. And you鈥檙e going up the 3 hordes. where they used to have the funny-coloured railway, the mountain, there was 4 guns (German), and all they had to do was open fire and we鈥檇 have been sank. They were all done and when we got to Burbon, they were running around with bloody guns these Germans. And I got a thing, at Wilurtabon?
[he unrolls a scroll and reads, 鈥榙eliberation of Norway, 8th May 1945鈥� and it shows a very Nordic gentleman with a spear, skies and a shield. 鈥楾he people of Norway wish to thank you, John Brody, of the British Armed Forces, for their valuable service for helping to restore freedom to our land.鈥� Dated: Oslo, December 1945].
They weren鈥檛 fighting. My mother had that 鈥� I didn鈥檛 know that I鈥檇 got it! (It was posted). She saw that [i.e. she didn鈥檛 see his medals because they became lost]. That was Christiansans and I鈥檝e kept it in there since then, so it鈥檚 60 years old.

[He gave the scroll to Age Concern Salford to keep].

My name is supposed to be at the Congregational Church at Patricroft [Eccles, Salford] as dead. My mother said, 鈥榶ou鈥檙e dead, what you doing here!鈥� That was Mr. Adams, the Clergyman. It鈥檚 shut now. They must have got it when the first man home, they heard it on the wireless [radio] that HMS Cairo had been sunk. My dad was home before me. He was in the Army in Venice. He was at Carlisle when he heard it. He was at home. He heard the news on the radio that the HMS Cairo had gone down and knowing you was on it thought that perhaps you were lost and he had told the Vicar. She said, 鈥榳ere have you come from, you鈥檝e been dead at Blackpool. You were on Blackpool beach!鈥� That was the time when Jan Van East Kirk (a big Dutch ship) got sunk off Blackpool. They was coming through the North Sea, coming down the Irish Channel off Liverpool and the Jan Van East Kirk was there as well and she got sunk by a U-boat in 1941. It was a massive one. We were with them and that got sunk. You know over the headline, where the big ship was sunk 鈥� was it the Normandy. Something was sunk from round the bottom of Ireland near Cork. A big 3 funnel ship 鈥� not the Titanic, another ship. They had all Germans in there during the war, in Ireland; there was oil and U-boats and God knows what because they were well in with the Germans, Southern Ireland, even the Prince of Wales.

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