大象传媒

10/06/2005

I was in the Maritime Royal Artillery 鈥� we manned the guns on the merchant ships, the DEMS (Defensively Armed Merchant Ships), people don鈥檛 connect us with the sea. We went into Russia, India, America, South Africa all over. We landed the American Rangers on the beaches of Omaha.

When we went to Cape Town in South Africa, to load up with coal for Argentina. They had no coal at all and were burning corn. When we got to Buenos Aires captain let us all go ashore. When we did go ashore there were vigilantes in the middle of the road. We found out what had been happening from Luna Park, the Fascists had been fighting with the Communists. So we went off in search of some food and this proprietor in this caf茅, we had some wonderful food and wine, rushed out and said to us 鈥淵ou stay there, I come back; sometime.鈥� And he locked us all in behind the shutters. He let us out next morning and we got back to our ship ok.

All the convoys used to start from Loch Ewe for Russia and I did three trips up to there. In the picture I鈥檓 there with the Russian Ambassador 鈥� that鈥檚 our memorial and it鈥檚 made of limestone. It was paid for by the our Russian Convoy Club and donations from some of the locals, you see. The inscription reads; 鈥淚n memory of our shipmates who sailed from Lock Ewe during World War Two. They lost their lives in Artic sea battles to North Russia and never returned to this stark ancourage. We who survived will always remember them.鈥� The Ambassador is the one with the hat with the badge on it and the chap on the left is Captain Bob Hallan; the founder of the Russian Convoy Club. There鈥檚 not many of us left now. In July, I couldn鈥檛 go for my eyesight; some of us went to a memorial service in Murmansk. Someone brought me the service book back and there was this nice poem in it;

For The Sailors
By John Masefield (1878-1967)

Even in peace, scant quiet is the sea,
In war, each revolution of the screw,
Each breath of air that blows the colours free,
May be the last moment known to you.
Death thrusting up or down, may disunite body from spirit, purpose from the hull,
With thunder bringing leaving of the light.
With lightening letting nothingness annul.

No rock, no danger, bears a warning sign,
No lighthouse scatters welcome through the dark,
Above the see, the bomb; afloat, the mine; beneath the gangs of the torpedo shark.
Year after year, with insufficient guard,
Often with none, have you adventured thus?
Some reaching harbour, maimed, battle scared,
Some never more returning,
Lost to us.

But if you 鈥榮cape, tomorrow you will steer to peril once again, to bring us bread,
To dare again, beneath the sky of fear, the moon-moved graveyard of your brothers dead.

You were salvation to the army lost,
Trapped, but for you, upon the Dunkirk beach,
Death barred the way to Russia, but you crossed; to Crete and Malta,
But you succoured each.
Unrecognised you put us in your debt,
Unthanked, you enter of escape the grave;
Whether your land remembered of forgot,
You saved the land,
Or died to try to save.

I was taken off the convey to take the American Rangers to train up and down the channels and we landed them on Omar Beach were they were nearly all wiped out, but you know that don鈥檛 you. We lost three landing craft before they got anywhere near the beach 鈥� they took out lifeboats off and put landing six craft in their place. The Rangers had to scramble down nets over the side of the boat to get into them when they鈥檇 been launched. There was a squadron of five of us; I was on the Amsterdam there was the Ben Reed(?), Princes Maud, Princess Grace and Claipso(?) 鈥� we landed them about 7 am.

I have a picture of the bridge over the River Kwai from when when we went there. We got the Burma Star for that, the Greeks gave us one, but we didn鈥檛 get anything for the Russian convoys. The Russians were just like the Americans, with their own people, they handed out medals for eating ice-cream.

Ever since the end of the war the veterans of the convoy battles in the Artic have tried, without success, to obtain official recognition of the Artic campaign 鈥� official recognition from their own government for the sacrifices made by their fallen comrades. Over 800 merchant seamen and 2,000 military personal stationed with the convoys lost their lives and yet the veterans calls to successive governments have all fallen on deaf ears.

I can recall the ill-fated convoy PQ17, from which 24 out of 26 vessels were lost, thick ice packing the ropes, railings and superstructure; fog so thick that the only indication of an enemy presence was an unseen ship exploding in a blaze of orange and red. The icebergs that loomed out of the darkness to crush their ships, the loss of friends as they fell into the icy seas hundreds of miles away from land 鈥� all we want is to see their names finally honoured. If you want to learn more, there is a booked, 鈥�73o North鈥� which is very good.

40 convoys sailed from Loch Ewe, 481 ships, in a three year period 鈥� more than 100 cargo ships and numerous escorts were sank with their crew.

Scores of veterans have been given medals from foreign governments such as Russia and Norway, whom have hailed them as their saviours. However, a defence ministry spokesman was quoted in the Yorkshire Post (6th March 2001, p.9) as saying; 鈥淨uite simply, an Artic Star is never going to be awarded. Those who served in that campaign were honoured under the broader heading of Atlantic Star, under criteria sanctioned by King George VI. That will not be changed. It was agreed in 1945 that no more campaign medals would be awarded.鈥�
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Added by: Alan Brigham - www.hullwebs.co.uk

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