"Victory Postcard" in the form of a photograph of William Arthur Robinson (Bill) sporting a "full set" and sent to his wife, Kathleen, from Australia.
- Contributed by听
- Margaret Clarke
- People in story:听
- William Arthur Robinson (Bill)
- Location of story:听
- North Atlantic and Pacific
- Background to story:听
- Royal Navy
- Article ID:听
- A7847832
- Contributed on:听
- 17 December 2005
I had to report to H.M.S. Collingwood on 4th February 1941 and once I was through that gate I was known as William Robinson, Ord Seaman PJX 261283
After 3 months training there I, along with many others, was drafted into Royal Naval Barracks in Portsmouth. After a few days we were drafted again into another establishment called Stamford Camp where we were told that we would march every day to Whale Island to complete our gunnery course. Whale Island was known as the finest gunnery school in the world. It had been rumoured that we were going to be drafted into a special group called D.E.M.S. which stood for Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships and that after further training we would be asked to volunteer. We were taken to Kings Cross Station and boarded a train to Glasgow, arriving at St. Enocks station the following morning.
We were then taken to H.M.S. Carrick at Gourock to await being posted to a ship. On 19th August, 1941 three gunners were wanted onboard the Winchester Castle. They were to be William Robinson, James Cunningham and William Evers. For several months we were on exercises and then on 23rd March 1942 we set sail into the Atlantic. Our journey turned out to be the Invasion of Madagascar in Africa, to remove French Vichy Forces. We then went to Mombasa where the Kings Own African Rifles troops came on board and were taken to Madagascar. After that we went to Bombay in India and then back to Durban in South Africa. Then rounded the Cape of Good Hope and went north to Freetown. About 500 miles into the Atlantic we came across several lifeboats and picked up 39 survivors from the American ship, Honolulu. They had been in open boats for 6 days. 10 days later we arrived in New York. We left New York on 19th August with American troops on board and docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia to await a convoy back to England. We arrived back in Gourock in Scotland at 5 a.m. on 31st August, 1942.
My next voyage was participating in the North African invasion where we sadly lost our sister ship, the Warwick Castle with the loss of 138 lives.
Other ships I served on as a D.E.M.S. gunner were:
M.V. Elise
Queen Adelaide
Empire Crest
I was in Australia on V.J. Day when I sent this photograph to my wife with the following inscription:
鈥淭o the Sweetest Girl in the World, my Kathleen with all my love from your Happy Husband Arthur xxx Victory August 15th 1945鈥
I was demobbed at Southampton in January 1946
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