大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by James, a pupil from Teversham Primary School on behalf of Ian Newsam and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Newsam fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
When WW2 broke out I was working in an insurance company, in an Accident Claims Department, in Northern Ireland. Six months into the war I went to the Naval Recruiting Officer and when I told him I had a matriculation level equivalent to a University Entrance Exam, his reaction was that I was very well educated.
I started my training together with 12 other recruits, as an Ordinary Seaman, spending 12 weeks at the shore based HM Ganges Training Ship. We spent 10 days waiting to be assigned to a ship at Chatham Barracks and subsequently I was sent to Edinburgh to join the V and W Destroyer Unit (so called due to the fact that the name of the ship started either with a v or a w). These ships were all built around 1917. My ship was engaged in the East Coast convoys from Edinburgh to the Estuary of the Thames.
Ten months later, I was selected as a potential officer because of my good level of education and was sent for training to the South Coast of England. The training base was, before the war broke out, a boarding school and had been taken over by the Navy for training purposes. At the end of 15 weeks training and examinations, 90% of the recruits (I was amongst them) graduated as officers from the Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve which also referred to as the Wavy Navy due to the fact that the circles on our stripes were not round and smooth鈥� but wavy!!
Having graduated as an officer, and after spending 17 days on leave, I was asked to report to Glasgow to join the HM Orchadeso Class (due to the fact that the name started with an o). We sailed to the Atlantic and joined a huge convoy and continued to Gibraltar and Freetown, Sierra Leone and later joined the HDML 1066 (Harbour Defence Motor Launch). A flotilla of HDML was protecting Freetown harbour 鈥� it was the biggest harbour on the West Coast of Africa. Eventually, I became Senior Officer and captain of the HDML 1066.
I had just started my leave in Northern Ireland from my duties at Freetown, Sierra Leone when I heard the news that D-Day had started. Immediately I rang my HQ in London and reported for duty. 鈥淣ewsam, if you expect me to withhold D-Day until you come back from Africa, you can forget it鈥� was the answer I got from the officer!
Later I was appointed Commanding Officer of HMML 259 (Her Majesty Motor Launch). I was based in Plymouth and my duties were to escort coastal convoys along the South Coast of England from Lands End to Dover. After the war, I came to Cambridge to read Veterinary Medicine at Magdalene College.

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