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Richard Stanley Meredith: Fleet Air Arm from 1941

I was a mechanic fitter in the Fleet Air Arm, maintaining aircraft. Before the war I worked at BSA where we manufactured half-track vehicles, Bren guns and Bren gun carriers. I joined up in February 1941. I used to meet my cousin Reggie for a pint or two on Friday nights, and one night we both decided to join up. He was a chef. He was also a good pianist and singer, and would play and sing in pubs for drinks. Reggie didn’t come back from the war. His ship went down in the Med.

I can’t remember whether it was Plymouth or Portsmouth I went to for training, but our first trip was to Trinidad in the West Indies for a few months. No problems there, but then we were off to the Med. and there was plenty of action there. We were in and out of Italy, Sicily, Palermo and Malta, patrolling all round on the lookout for enemy ships and submarines. We were in a squadron of three: the Stalker, the Attacker and the Avenger. Together, they made up a very powerful force indeed. They provided cover for convoys going to Malta, and then went into some very dangerous situations along North Africa. We were servicing and overhauling Hurricanes and Spitfires — one trouble with the Spitfires was their narrow wheelbase, so they tended to tip over as they came in to land on the deck.

We were in the Med for six months, then home for refitting and rearming at Glasgow. Then off to the Pacific, engaging in places such as Singapore, Trincomalee, the Bay of Bengal, and against the Japanese off Burma. I can’t recall any specific close shaves, but then most of the time, if anything was happening, you were in the thick of it anyway and couldn’t tell how close you were to surviving or not.

I made three particularly good friends during my war service, though they’re all gone now. One of them was a really big pal. We were real friends. He was Albert Lynch, ship’s blacksmith, a Cockney, lived in Peckham. When we got home, we parted as we left the ship and, in spite of writing to him and trying to contact him, I’ve never heard another thing from him. What a pity. The Stalker still has its reunion every August, and this year it’s being held in Crewe, so I’ll be able to get to that one. As time passes, there are fewer people left to go to the reunions, so last year they amalgamated them for the three ships, and there were fifty people there. That’s good.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Graham Brown of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Shropshire CSV Action desk on behalf of Richard Stanley Meredith and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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