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Ken Taylor was too young to join up when the war started but that doesn鈥檛 mean that he saw no action. Instead he joined the AFS the Auxiliary Fire Service where there was action aplenty and all of it dangerous.
鈥淚 remember the Broadstairs Fire Engine going to Canterbury Cathedral. They have only just now done a plaque to note the job done by the fire watchers to save Canterbury Cathedral. They used to stand on the roof and shoo the incendiary devices into the grounds.鈥�
He remembers the bombing in the area.
鈥淲ilfred Road Ramsgate was blown up with an aerial land mine. I remember we went there the next day and found all these bits of silk from the parachute mine. It was total devastation. One Sunday afternoon in Church Street we went outside to watch the German planes going on their way to London. You would get to about five hundred and then lose count! Unfortunately on the way back to Germany, if they had any bombs left they would jettison them and anyone in the way copped it! They didn鈥檛 all get back though. I saw an ME109 come down in the cornfield opposite the Dane Valley Arms, another crashed and burned in Poor Hole Lane and another by the gate of the Deaf School. My uncle and aunt had a cycle shop at the top of Margate High Street and a bomb dropped right on it and wiped it out. Fortunately they were in the cellar because of the air raid and they had to be dug out.鈥� Ken then told me of actions of bravery by the fire brigade which is almost unbelievable. 鈥淥n this day some FW190鈥檚 came over and shot up the gasometers just off Northdown Road. There were flames licking out of about seventeen holes where they had been shot up but nevertheless the fire men climbed up the side steps and placed a sandbag on each hole to stop the leek and put out the fire! It was crazy but then we all were!鈥�
The gasometers survive today!
When Ken talks he doesn鈥檛 ramble, he quotes names, dates and times. 鈥淥n Sunday 3rd of August at 1:15. I saw the JU88 fly up Broadstairs High Street and drop bombs on the Fire Station, the Railway Station and the bungalow by the Broadway Garage and the grounds of the Catholic Church.鈥�
When his mates in the NFS (National Fire Service) decided to join up 鈥� so did Ken. He joined the Royal Marines at Chatham and started his training. After passing out for sea service training he then proceeded to Chatham Dockyard where sailors and Royal marines boarded a train to Glasgow to join HMS Euryalus at John Browns dockyard where it was in refit. At sea he patrolled from Scapa Flo round off the North Sea until they were called to escort the SS Rimutaka taking the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to Australia to take up the governorship.
鈥淲e escorted them round as far as Columbo in what was then known as Ceylon where the New Zealand and Australian navy took over. We then joined the East Indies Fleet where we had a new enemy, the Japanese. Later we joined Admiral Sir Bruce Frazier who was attached to Admiral Nimitz in the Pacific Fleet. We went along side HMS Indomitable, a big aircraft carrier, when she was hit by three Kamikaze planes. Because her flight deck was so badly damaged we took all the bombs off her, steaming along side, and then put them on another carrier 3 days later. Our main task was anti aircraft cover at the edge of the fleet. The enemy saw us first if they came our way. I started off down in the bottom of the ship in the magazine and worked my way up through the guns to the range finder above the bridge. My gunnery officer called me to the bridge one day and said 鈥楾aylor I understand that you passed the aircraft recognition course with a score of 98 from 100. Forget your other duties, from now on you are on the bridge doing aircraft recognition!鈥� and that is where I ended up.鈥�
The last major action that Ken took part in was the bombardment of Okinawa before the troops landed. He does have another memory which is just as important. Like all his other memories it is accompanied with dates, times and even longitude and latitude.
鈥淲e were 500 miles from Tokyo off the south east coast of Japan on August the 6th and 9th 1945 when the atom bombs were dropped. It was broadcast over the ship speaker.鈥�
After some policing duties in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Fiji the war was officially over and the men were anxious to be demobbed but Ken tells me of one last duty that the men had to perform.
鈥淲e did have a big victory parade round the biggest race course in the world, Happy Valley Race Course in Hong Kong.鈥�
From the fire brigade dealing with German bombs and the Battle of Britain to the North Sea and then to the Pacific to witness the end of the war, Ken Taylor has seen a lot but it doesn鈥檛 dampen his cheerfulness and time hasn鈥檛 dulled his memory.

Today Ken is a member of HMS Euryalus Association and he keeps in touch with some crew members by telephone and letters. Once a year there is a formal dinner/reunion in Portsmouth which he attends where a lot of reminiscing takes place. He also attends a memorial in August at Margate Holy Trinity Church for VJ Day and afterwards has a drink with members of the Burma Star Association and former sailors and Royal Marines 鈥� a few from HMS Argonaut, another Dido class cruiser which Ken also served on during WW2.

Incidentally 鈥� HMS Euryalus was the only Dido class cruiser and the last cruiser to be built at Chatham.

Written by Steve Murphy from an interview and further collaboration with Ken Taylor and his family. Thank you Ken!

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