大象传媒

I was born in Preston, Lancashire, I was exempt from military service as I worked in a Munitions Factory. I did, however, volunteer for service with the Royal Navy.

In September 1939 my eldest brother Reggie was in the Territorial Army, so he had to join the Army. He was captured by the Japanese and was a POW for three and a half years; he had to work on the railway lines. He had many diseases including beriberi, he had to have half his stomach removed. He's fine now and lives in Carnforth in Lancashire. My 2 other brothers Norman and Clifford joined the Royal Air Force, Norman died in the 1950's; Clifford lives in Lancashire.

I discovered that all my ancestors were sea-farers. My Uncle Arthur was a coxun on the life-boats at Lythan St Anne's for 45 years. In the Museum at Lytham. photographs of my Wignall relatives are displayed.

When I volunteered to serve with the Royal Navy I was sent on a course to the Naval Armaments Depot at Ditton Priors in Shropshire. The course was about armaments and fire fighting. There were a lot of women working at the Depot, they had to tool shells to fit different sized magazines.

There was a bus from Ditton Priors to Much Wenlock. I loved dancing and went to the dances at the Memorial Hall in Much Wenlock. I met the girl who was to become my wife - Stella Jones. We started courting and in 1941 and in 1944 I got leave to to get married; we married at Holy Trinity Church, Much Wenlock.

My first posting was to the battleship "MMS REVENGE", with fifteen-inch guns. The "REVENGE" had been in the Battle of Jutland and had engaged Battleship cruisers "Vondertann" & "Derflinger". She took part in the search for the "Bismark". Due to poor condition she was reduced to subsidary service and in 1944 she was transferred to Portsmouth.

I then volunteered to serve on smaller ships. I was posted to a ship at Sheerness that was part of the "BOOM DEFENCE". The Boom Defence consisted of 3 ships; one on the left-hand (LH) side, one in the middle and one on the right-hand (RH) side. Incoming ships sailed between the LH ship and the middle ship, outgoing ships sailed between the middle ship and the RH ship. Nets were laid either side of the ships to provide further protection. The only way in or out was through the "Boom Defence". I served on the "Pallisade" which was on the RH side. Horlicken guns were fitted on the Boom ships; every 5th shell was a tracer - they lit up the area - so we could see to shoot down the doodle-bugs.

Our ship was 5 miles out of Sheerness. We were trained to recognise thew "throb" of the German submarines. ASDIC; ASDIC was an early form of sonar - Anti Submarine Detection Investigation Committee. If a German submarine came within half a mile of the "Boom Defence" a signal was sent to Garrison Point, anfd a destroyer would be sent out to sink the submarine.

On one occassion a German submarine came within a quarter of a mile of the Boom, a signal was sent to Garrison Point and the destroyer was sent out. Because of the 7 knot tide there was a red danger buoy that the destroyer should have gone round - it missed and rammed into our ship, this caused a heavy iron door to the galley to hit me on the head; as a result I lost my hearing.

After serving on the "Boom Defence" I served on one of the BAR boats "HMS Barbarette". The BAR boats were steam driven and as a stoker it was my job to keep the fires burning, it was very hard work. The BAR boats were used to lift the wrecks that had been sunk in the harbours by the enemy bombers.

I was in charge of the German Prisoners-of-War. I still have a pair of wooden candlesticks that one of the prisoners - Horst Shnieber - made for me.

When peace in Europe was declared I was on of the 50 hand-picked sailors - to parade with fixed bayonets - through London and Edinburgh. I was demobbed from the "HMS VICTORY". I have a plaque of the "Victory" to commerate this event.

In the 1950s my wife and I used to go dancing at the Broseley Branch of the Royal Naval Association (RNA). On one occassion Stella danced with Dickie Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India. I still have the copy of his book "Mountbatten - 80 years in Pictures", which the RNA gave to us. This book was published in 1979, the year he was killed by the IRA.

I have been a member of the Broseley Branch of the RNA since March 1969. I am also a member of the Shrewsbury Branch of the RNA. To mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, the Association has given a certificate to all its' members in 2005. A fellow serviceman from WW2, George Frances was a leading light in the Association, he died in March 2004. I have been a member of the Much Wenlock Branch of the British Legion since 1978. I am a committee member of the "Buffalos" a charity that holds its meetings at the British Legion Hall in Much Wnlock.

The British Legion Headquarters used to be at "the Eagles" in Cressage, I was on the committee when Colonel Guy Thornycroft was the President. A fellow sailor Burt Fletcher, who served on "HMS Revenge" as a steward was also on the committee. Burt was good company, he played the piano and I sang - comic and wartime songs. The landlord of "The Eagles" served in the Army in India.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War Site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) of Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of R WIGNALL (author) and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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