大象传媒

I joined up in 1943 on August bank holiday and went to HMS Gangees in Shotley, Suffolk for three months. We had to learn to climb the mast, about 140ft high, by climbing up the rigging often in bitterly cold weather. If we couldn't manage it the first time, then we had to keep trying until we managed to reach the landing about 10ft from the top. From there we went to Chatham to be drafted and I was sent to join a destroyer which went to Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. It was the main naval base in Britain and was very bleak indeed. We patrolled the North Sea and the North Atlantic. In winter the seas were extremely rough indeed and the water often came down on to the mess deck. We did convoy duty and saw some petrol tankers go up, but luckily we never got hit. We picked up as many as survivors as we could and some of them had terrible injuries. Not many people know that as soon as these sailors were off their ship when it sunk, they were unpaid until they rejoined another ship.
We were always wet and cramped with poor food to eat but at least the company was good. We had a laugh and a joke and comradeship. It was a hard life, but we got used to it.
Later, I went to the Pacific on an aircraft carrier - light fleet carrier - and we went from one extreme to another because it was so very hot. Our clothes still felt damp, but this time it was from humidity and perspiration. We went to Ceylon, the Phillipines and all over the Pacific following the American Navy. We were in Japan (Kobe) when the war ended, fetching Australian prisoners of war out. Before this we were involved in the relief of Hong Kong.
We saw some terrible sights, but after a while we just got used to it and we were thankful that we were still alive.
I was demobbed in 1946 and I have been to places that I would never have seen otherwise. I was glad that I didn't miss the experience.

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