大象传媒

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

IN the years between his arrival at Dartmouth as a boy and the receipt of his orders to proceed to China, Johnnie Walker had not put a foot wrong in the Service. In spite of managing to scrape through to commander only just before the promotion zone passed, his personal record at the Admiralty was good, and it was likely that he would receive promotion at the normal rate, perhaps to Flag rank. But from the time he joined the Far Eastern Fleet dubious reports on his suitability for senior rank were to be written into an otherwise impeccable record. When the Fleet moved from one part of the China station to another, Johnnie clashed with his superiors. Always outspoken and inclined to put his case with considerable forcefulness, he failed to show the necessary tact in those social duties which go with the command of the Admiral鈥檚 yacht. When his two years鈥� service abroad were up and he returned to England, adverse reports from a senior officer had already reached London. He was glad to be back. Eilleen had fallen ill in China and he was anxious to have her examined by London specialists. The result was that she underwent two major operations, while Johnnie was sent to Greenwich for a senior officer鈥檚 course. Meanwhile, Timmy, as the family called him, had won a scholarship to Eton and, while there, prepared to enter the Catholic Church. He was only sixteen and Johnnie had not intended his children to choose for themselves at such an early age. However, in the face of the boy鈥檚 determination, he gave his consent and allowed him to have instruction. As quiet, blunt and forthright as his father, Timothy was received into the Church in July, 1936 and later accepted for the priest hood. Walker had now received his next appointment, as second in-command of the battleship Valiant. Despite his refusal in China to bow to what he regarded as the whims of higher authorities, the harsh reports on him had not been sufficient in themselves seriously to affect his career. But while in Valiant there came another clash of personalities which led to one more adverse report. In recent years, a great change had taken place in Walker; from a home-loving boy he had become a gifted scholar and hero to his classmates; and now the young naval officer had grown into a mature, somewhat serious-minded father and deeply devoted husband. Gone were the youthful days of early marriage when gay cocktail parties with his young wife had been accompanied by occasional visits to the pawnbroker鈥檚. They were replaced by a supreme contentment only to be found when at home playing with the children and in peaceful evenings with Eilleen. His family possessed him and he was only too willing to be possessed. This was encouraged, perhaps, by the Admiralty鈥檚 persistent refusal to appoint him to the small ships he liked, sending him instead to one big ship after another.

He had developed a tolerant understanding of the problems and worries besetting officers who were following the modern trend of marrying while young and accepting the challenge of making ends meet on Service pay. He had been through it himself and could now draw upon his own experience and happiness when giving advice. It used to be and to some extent still is an accepted naval maxim that a career officer can have only one wife, the Navy; if he takes another she must be relegated to second place. Walker came up against this in Valiant. The commander of a battleship has one of the most arduous, responsible and absorbing jobs the Navy can offer. If the captain is the king, then the commander, as the senior executive officer, is his prime minister. He controls the lives of nearly two thousand men; administers their duties, their leaves and their pay; he cares for their health, punishes their sins, rewards their virtues, helps those in trouble and maintains sanity in conditions often suitable to the breeding of abnormality. He is responsible to the captain for the training of officers and men and the fighting efficiency and cleanliness of the ship. Round the clock, he is the buffer between the captain and his subject community. On top of all this, he must be ready at an instant鈥檚 notice to take overall command should the captain fall sick, wounded or dead. Johnnie Walker performed his duties in Valiant adequately. She was as good as any ship of the line in the Fleet, no better and no worse. This seemed to irritate her captain who relied, understandably, on his commander to pull that extra effort from the crew to make her that little bit smarter, with just that fine shade of efficiency which carries the stamp of a keen, untiring executive officer. Sharp words were exchanged at frequent intervals and Johnnie would return to his cabin to find solace in writing letters to Eilleen and the children. He wrote every evening and in one letter said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there is the vaguest chance of my being promoted out of this ship.鈥� Yet had anyone suggested that by allowing his wife to occupy first place in his thoughts he had excluded the Navy to a dangerous degree and was, perhaps, not quite producing that little extra effort required of him, he would either have laughed aloud or angrily refuted the charge. However, the painful fact remained that his captain was married to the Navy in the traditional sense while he was married to Eilleen. Neither officer, with the best will on both sides, could do much to avoid the final encounter. When Walker left Valiant early in 1937, he knew that more criticisms of his ability had reached the Admiralty; in fact, one confidential report described him as 鈥渓acking powers of leadership鈥�. This was a damning judgment when he was entering the zone of promotion to captain. It gave the lie to the natural qualities of leadership he had displayed at Dart mouth and rankled because he felt that, left alone in small ships, he could make as good a leader as anyone. Yet there was some justification for discrediting him, just as there was reason enough for him to feel that his efforts in Valiant had not been fairly valued. Had the Admiralty thought fit to give him a small ship then, his career might have taken a different course, but one appointment after another to big ships had frustrated his sense of adventure and deadened ambition. If he turned to his marriage as the only star in his life one can hardly blame him.

Once he had left Valiant all grievances vanished. What was done was finished, and he no longer worried about it. He was disappointed at not being promoted out of the battleship and it began to look as though he would never reach the rank of captain. With a wife and three children, it would have been quite natural for him to worry about the future; instead, he was content to let matters take their course, confident that he could always earn a living outside the Service. When Eilleen raised the matter sometimes he would pat her shoulder, and mutter his formula for everything: 鈥淚t will all turn out all right, don鈥檛 you worry.鈥� In the spring of 1937, he returned to Portsmouth to become commander of the Anti-Submarine Warfare School, H.M.S. Osprey. This was work he liked, but there was an ominous cloud in the sky. It was becoming increasingly obvious to the pioneers of this form of warfare that the majority of senior officers regarded their work as necessary but not of high importance. Other branches of the Service offered more glamour, and it seemed likely that the anti-submarine specialists might easily be overlooked for promotion鈥攁nother signpost which Walker merely ignored. In September, Timmy left Eton to join the English College in Rome for preliminary training as a priest, while his father plunged into his work at Osprey with one ear attuned to the war drums sounding across the Channel on the borders of Germany. He discussed the possible outcome of a war and revealed weak powers of prophecy. 鈥淚 think,鈥� said Eilleen, 鈥渢hat if the war lasts long enough someone will build an atom bomb. That will be terrible.鈥� 鈥淥h, forget that,鈥� replied Johnnie amiably. 鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 reached any thing like that stage yet.鈥� Those were good days for the Walkers, among the happiest Eilleen can remember. They had a house called 鈥淭he Four Winds鈥� which the children adored because it had a tennis court, though they spent most of their time fishing from a nearby stone pier, catching slimy creatures which father and mother then had to eat. On one sunny afternoon, while Johnnie was gardening, Gillian turned the hose on him and then wilted under a paternal broadside. She promptly christened her father 鈥淏eetroot鈥�, because 鈥渉is face went all red and he shouted at me in a gunnery voice鈥�. The nickname stuck to the end. Not long afterwards Johnnie bought his first car, very old and dilapidated, but still mobile. Before going to Dorchester one day for his driving test, Nicholas, who had silently observed ns father鈥檚 driving for several days, asked anxiously if he thought he would pass. 鈥淥f course,鈥� replied Johnnie, a little coldly. 鈥淚f I can drive a destroyer, I can drive a bloody car.鈥� The family kept tactfully out of the way an hour or so later when he returned to confess that, after an argument with the examiner on the necessity of using hand signals, indicators or both, he had been failed. By the end of 1938, Commander Walker knew he had not been selected for promotion and had joined the ranks of those who, for a variety of reasons, had been 鈥減assed over鈥�. In peacetime, these officers can either elect to remain in the Service at their existing rank until reaching maximum retiring age, or retire at the first opportunity, thereby gaining a small pension while still young enough to supplement it by employment in 鈥淐ivvy Street鈥�. In wartime, however, 鈥減assed over鈥� officers were often called upon to fill posts of importance and in many cases they did so brilliantly. As if in compensation, Eilleen gave birth in March, 鈥�939, to a third son whom they named Andrew. In Osprey Walker insisted that the U-boat menace would soon become the key to Britain鈥檚 defence and power to attack. No matter what the beliefs of higher authorities, he urged the commanding officer of the school to press his view on the Admiralty. Whether this was done is not known, but his next appointment was one of the most important in the Navy鈥檚 and-submarine defence system. He became Staff Officer (Operations) on the staff of Vice-Admiral Ramsey at Dover with overall responsibility for the Command鈥檚 anti-submarine defences. With the B.E.F. in France, freedom of movement in the Channel was vital for the supply lines. It was also essential to deny use of the Channel to U-boats moving from the German of Kiel, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven into the Atlantic. By forcing them to take the northern route round the Orkneys, we could make them use more fuel on their outward and inward voyages which meant less time on Atlantic patrols against our convoys.
Therefore, the closing of the Dover - Calais door in the face of Doenitz was the task of a highly- trained specialist. Walker himself was disappointed at the appointment. Although it lifted him from the list of the 鈥渧irtually unemployed鈥� and gave him an active, key role in the front line of events, he would have preferred command of a small ship. They had moved most of their belongings and furniture into store at Weymouth and taken a furnished house in Dover, when a letter arrived for Johnnie from Timmy, who had been in Rome for the past two years. It was a remarkable letter, laying bare the mental agony of a boy, then nineteen, who had given himself to his faith at a time when his country had gone to war. He now sought advice and guidance from his father. After explaining that he was not free to return and fight as he chose, Timmy said he had talked the matter over with his rector and that, as a Church student, he would have first to obtain the permission of Cardinal Hinsley, Archbishop of Westminster, before joining up for the duration.
鈥淎s far as my personal inclinations are concerned,鈥� he wrote, 鈥淚 would much rather fight than stay here. To go on with my ordinary work while England is at war would involve deep mortification and require far greater courage. But I am determined not to act upon inclination, but to try simply to find out what is right. 鈥淭he reasons which urge me to fight are too obvious to be expounded at length. It is a conflict in which everything which has any claim on my loyalty is involved鈥擟hurch, Country and civilisation itself. 鈥淭he reasons against it are such that I must ask you to adjudge them with that appreciation of my position as a Catholic which you have hitherto so generously shown. I have already said that the Church disapproves of it. The reason is that the vocation to priesthood is the highest of all vocations, higher even than the vocation to fight for your country and it is more important, not only for the Church but also for England to have good priests rather than to have good soldiers or sailors. 鈥淭o leave the Church even for a few years to fight for a cause, however just, unless a number of Church students were so great as to make a vital difference鈥攚hich it is not鈥攚ould be to prefer the gratification of a romantic impulse to doing my real duty to my Country and my Church鈥攁 most un-English thing to do. Before coming to a final conclusion I want you to tell me what in your opinion it is my duty to do. Because you probably do not want to influence my decision I must make it clear I am determined not to be influenced. I realise that I alone am responsible before my Church and my Country and cannot shift it on to anyone else.鈥� Walker replied at once that Timmy was to stay in Rome, but should there ever come a time when England would need every able-bodied man, then he would write and say so. It would be up to his son to make his own decision. There, the matter rested. International developments took a hand. Italy attacked France, and the English College in Rome was disbanded for the duration, the English students returning home by sea to wait until the College could find suitable accommodation to re open in England. Timothy joined his mother and father in Dover and, throughout the evacuation of Dunkirk, worked as a stretcher-bearer at Dover Hospital. The English College re-opened in the Lake District and Timothy left Dover to resume his studies. But, shortly after wards, his father sent the promised letter. In Johnnie鈥檚 opinion, the time had come when every fit man was needed to fight the war. Timothy obtained his rector鈥檚 consent to write to Cardinal Hinsley asking for permission to suspend his studies for the priesthood until the end of the war, in order to join one of the Fighting Services. There was no delay in the reply. It came almost at once.
MY DEAR MR. WALKER, Your letter shows you have a thoroughly Catholic and patriotic disposition. I agree that you should join one of the Fighting Services. It is sad and deplorable that you should have to interrupt your studies. But you will probably come out of the ordeal a stronger man and by God鈥檚 grace, make a more useful priest. I do not think you can oppose your father鈥檚 wish. My heartfelt Blessing, Yours devotedly in Christ, A. CARDINAL HINSLEY.
Timothy packed his bags, caught a train to London and joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an ordinary seaman. With young Nicholas already at Dartmouth, the Walkers could be proud of their Sons.

Continued.....
'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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