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INTRODUCTION

I am writing this for my father, Johnnie North’s army pal. I am going to write this memory in the first person, as though Johnie North is telling the story for himself.

GOING OVERSEAS WITH THE KRRC

We were at sea for some six months. The troop ships left Liverpool and sailed due west out into the Atlantic Then they turned south toward the Cape. We couldn’t go through the Med. The risk was too great, although there were u-boats based along the West African coast.

Crossing the equator, we had to endure the court of King Neptune! Our first sight of South Africa was Table Mountain sitting above Capetown. We docked further on, though, round the Eastern cape, in Durban.

Coming into Durban, flares lit up the night sky. All the ships in the convoy were letting off flares. It was to keep off the u-boats. If their periscopes had shown themselves, they’d have bought it with depth charges.

We were allowed shore leave. Durban was quite an eye-opener I can tell you. The blacks were expected to give deference and step off the pavement to let the whites by. My army pal, Frank Doe, and I weren’t going to have any of that rubbish!

We used to have fun taking the blacks into the white bars for a drink. We’d walk straight in, bold as brass, all good pals and jolly good company. That used to cause a stir I can tell you! It wasn’t Apartheid then you understand; there weren’t any laws as such, it was just convention — a colour bar - that everyone followed, like in the southern states of the U.S. Well, that’s not right, is it?

ARRIVING IN NORTH AFRICA

After our little sojourn in Durban, we sailed north, up the east coast of Africa. Everything was going just fine until, somehow or other, we got separated from the convoy. We woke up one morning to find nothing but sea. Not a ship in sight! We had no protection, nothing. Without an escort, we were a sitting target!

Everyone was nervous. One night, the lookout shouted ‘man overboard!’ There was mayhem. We didn’t dare circle round to look because of the danger of u-boats. Everyone was called out on deck to take roll call. Everyone was accounted for, although the lookout still insisted he’d heard someone falling into the water.

The next day, the cook complained there was a sack of potatoes missing. Well, you can see what had happened, can’t you?

Some days later, the same lookout saw a light on the horizon. We were all put on full alert. For an hour or more, no-one could make out what it was. Then, the moon came up!.

We carried on like this, up round the horn of Africa, until we joined up at last with the main convoy and made our way on to Suez.

FOOTNOTE:

Johnnie North bought it as my father would say, and was always a great loss in his heart. I don’t know the circumstances of his death. He was just one of the many thousands of casualties of war in the North Africa Campaign. Nothing more special than anyone else who lost their life, but someone rather more special to my father. Perhaps, someone reading this might be able to throw some more light on his background and how he died.

The photograph is dated 'Port Said 6.7.43' and it was about this time that the Allied invasion fleet sailed to Sicily. I am wondering if it was during or following the invasion of Italy that he 'bought it.'

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