大象传媒

At the age of 15 years my life style was to change. I had been made part of a world wide war. That meant I had been absorbed into the war effort.
An air raid shelter was dug in my back garden for my family. Parkland and grass verges were cultivated to grow food, named 'Dig for Victory'. My family and I were allocated a piece of ground behind the Seven Arches public house in Brentwood. This produced much needed food. Rabbits were bred at home for meat and chickens reared for eggs, all being fed on scraps from our food table.
With my father I joined the Civil Defence core and became a fire watcher. On our duty patrols during air raids, we had to report and tackle any fires in our area which were caused mainly by enemy incendiary bombs.
At 16 years of age I joined the Home Guard and was trained in the use of small arms and hand grenades, abiding by Army rules and regulations. This entailed being on call 24 hours each day waiting for a German invasion. My role in the war effort made me feel patriotic to my King and country. Air raids and home guard call outs could be frightful, but the comradeship and a common purpose made it all worthwhile.
Reaching the age of 18 years i had to leave my work and join the armed forces. My choice was the Royal Navy.
Arriving at HMS Glendower in North Wales I was introduced to naval discipline and training as a seaman. From there I was drafted in to the naval side of 'combined operations', an amphibious branch of the navy to take the war in to enemy held territory.
My first landing craft for training was a Mark3 LCT and then to a tank landing craft Mark4. Its cargo being 6 Sherman tanks and a 6 wheeled truck. My duty on board was an anti aircraft gunner and Able Seaman.
Much training was carried out with the Army and then came the invasion of Europe - D Day.
Due to bad weather conditions the invasion on June 4th and 5th was cancelled. This delay caused the tension to build up and it was a great relief when we sailed for France late on June 5th to arrive in France at day break on the 6th June.
During that night every man was awake. German 'E' boats were busy engaging our convoy. Some were sunk or set on fire but LCT 1074, my craft, carried on towards France. As dawn broke we could see the French coast. Gunfire and bombs were exploding everywhere. I was on the 'after gun' waiting for an enemy air attack. The adrenalin was running high. The skipper shouts 'We are going in, man your beaching stations'. My station was starboard winch house. Movements and events became automatic as i carried out my beaching drill and i was oblivious to all the mayhem going on around me. With a crunch, LCT1074 hit the beach, missing all the German beach defences. Down went the ramp and with a loud cheer we discharged our cargo of tanks and wished the tank crews good luck.
Waiting for the next high tide to refloat us off the beach, made us a sitting duck for enemy attack. German aircraft made several attacks straffing the beach with gunfire and bombs.
After leaving the beach we became part of the supply chain sailing between England and France transporting equipment to any beach head where it was needed. These trips continued until August 25th when LCT1074, loaded with Sherman tanks and American soldiers heading for Omaha beach, was either torpedoed or struck a sea mine and sank. I was one of 4 crew members rescued. Ten men (all my shipmates) perished that day. American sailors rescued me and I was taken to an American hospital ship and on to an American field hospital in France. My thoughts during my time on board the hospital ship and being injured were ' Will I survive if this one sinks'.
On my discharge from the field hospital I returned to England thinking that perhaps my war was over. But no, I was sent back on a fitness course and drafted to Liverpool to a landing craft infantry vessel LCI(L)271 and rekitted for tropical service to take part in the war with Japan.
After sailing half way around the world, transporting soldiers to Burma, India and Ceylon we loaded with army personnel to invade Penang, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and then on to Tokyo Bay, Japan.
Setting out loaded with troops from Ceylon to invade Penang and nearing the Andaman and Nicabar Islands, our convoy received a signal that an atom bomb had been dropped on Japan. We did not know if peace talks were taking place. All ships returned to Ceylon. Peace was declared and we sailed, loaded with troops, direct to Singapore. We dispatched our troops and reloaded with fresh troops for mopping up exercises around the islands of the Dutch East Indies. We transported Japanese prisoners and Dutch internees back to Singapore.
The event of the atom bomb saved thousands of allied lives.
I arrived back in England late 1946, sailing home for 'demob' onboard the 'Monarch of Bermuda' as a passenger.
Arriving at Chatham barracks I exchanged my naval uniform for a set of civilian clothing and returned to my old work place, hoping for a world free of tyranny.

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