大象传媒

As I look back I remember one thing that happened to me when I thought I鈥檇 had my chips. A number of the lads and myself were transferred to 2nd Echelon HQ. The next day we were on the move again, this time to Alexandria docks where we boarded a troop ship. Where we were going to was a mystery. When we set sail there were 35 ships in convoy and when we got out into the Mediterranean the convoy sailed in arrow formation with the Commodore ship leading the convoy. There were two oil tankers, one about a quarter of a mile to the left of us and the other tanker was about the same distance to our right. Our ship was just behind the Commodore and although I couldn鈥檛 tell you the distance, it was not very far. Our unit was split up but we did not know where they were but our duty was for the Artillery and the Tank regiments to man the guns if necessary. At about 7 o鈥檆lock that night, an enemy aircraft was sighted, flying at deck level from the front of the convoy to the back of it. The Navy escorting ship had signalled for all ships to hold their fire until the aircraft had reached the end of the convoy.

I have never seen anything like what I saw then. The guns on all the ships traversed on the plane as it flew passed, the when it reached the end of the convoy, they all fired at once, or it certainly seemed like it because the plane was blown out of the sky but the pilot must have signalled back to his base and given them our position because about half an hour later about 30 Junker 87s attacked us from all directions. The Commodore was the first ship to be sunk and it went down so fast; first the ship was there and the next minute it was gone.

Not a soul could be seen and the smell of burning flesh was terrible. The next thing we knew was that we were being bombed and the ship received a direct hit on the aft end, which put our steering out of order. We were told we could not put the rest of the convoy in danger by asking for assistance so orders were given over the loudspeaker that the skipper was going to abandon ship. It was up to everybody to carry out their boat drill and make their way to the lifeboats. If there was no room left in the boats we had to take our chance and jump overboard in our lifejackets.

Like a lot more I jumped overboard into the water and when I hit the water I thought I had broken my neck. We were eventually picked up by another ship but I must admit that at the time I could not swim a single stroke but when your life is in danger anything can happen. We were picked up and put ashore in Tripoli in North Africa and sent to a transit camp about three miles outside the town. After we were checked by the MO we were shown where we would be sleeping and were given something to eat. After that the CO told us that our time was our own and we could go down into the town if we felt like it.

We heard there was a cinema in the town so some of the lads and myself thought we would go to see what picture was on. We must have walked half a mile to the town before we came across other troops standing in a queue outside a big house. We thought this was the cinema so we joined the queue. Eventually, as the queue moved forward up to the main door, we were stopped by two redcaps who asked us for our Ab 64. When we asked why they needed our pay book and Ab 64 they replied that all troops entering this brothel had to be checked. We replied in a surprised tone that we thought it was a queue for the cinema and the redcaps pointed a finger to show us where the cinema was. We turned and ran off like a shot out of a gun in the in the direction he had shown us. I shall not forget that day in a hurry!

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