大象传媒

H.M.S. Hermes was sunk on the morning of April 9th 1942 at 11am after an action lasting half an hour from the bombing of 85 Jap planes. During the afternoon of April 8th I was ashore with my pal Bill Morris when around 4pm we heard the ships' sirens sounding off, this meant instant recall. We rushed back to the jetty where we saw the ship was flying the black flag, this confirmed the emergency. Back on board things were moving fast, we were under sailing orders, everything had to be secured for sea, our Captain told us that Hermes and our attendant destroyer H.M.A.S. Vampire had orders to proceed to sea. At about 22.30 hours special sea duty men closed up and we proceeded to sea not knowing where our destination would be. I had the middle watch, my action station being guns crew on P1 5.5鈥� gun as breech worker, we remained on watch until the ship sank.

Continued...

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Genevieve Tudor of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire and CSV Media Action Desk on behalf of S.B Curtis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Stan Curtis Medals Awarded 1939 - 45 Star, Atlantic Star, African Star, Italian Star,Burma Star, Victory medal, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Period of Service 1935 - 1953

Ships served in: HMS Drake, Lucia, Ramillies, Resolution, Honesty, Gosling, Royal Aurther, Cumberland, Hermes.

See more of Stan's stories and photos:

• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes
• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes 鈥� Continued
• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes 鈥� Continued
• Stan Curtis in 1935
• Stan Curtis in 1938
• Stan Curtis in Malmesbury, South Africa
• Stan Curtis in Mowbray
• Stan Curtis in Shrewsbury
• Stan Curtis in New Jersey
• Stan Curtis in Mombasa
• Stan Curtis in Mombasa, the following year

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.