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MR.WALTER LEVESLEY D.O.B. 09 07 1926

JUNE 1943 — 1945

On the night of June 23rd 1943 the air raid sirens sounded in Hull, I was 16 yrs old and living at 5 Carden Avenue, Sutton Trust, Hull, we went into the garden, I was talking to my friend next door, his mother was already in the shelter and she shouted for him to join her, I went into our shelter and stood in between my mother and father, {Doris & Fred}. My two sisters, Joan and Freda, were laid on the bunks my Dad was looking out of the door up into the sky and saying I can see the planes. With that there was a terrific explosion the noise was like going through a tunnel on a train, I felt as though I was floating through the air. I heard my Mam screaming and that was it everything went quiet and I couldn’t move, I didn’t even know if I was upside down.

It seemed liked forever before I heard the sound of digging. I couldn’t shout. After a long time I heard voices and I felt someone pulling my hair and saying ‘‘here’s somebody’’ they dug me out and I was taken to the East Park first aid post. The people there cleaned all the mud from me and my Aunt Clara came to collect me. My Mother and Father had both been killed, my sisters were seriously injured, and my friend Jimmy Owen from next door had been killed along with his sister Mary and their mother Mrs Owen.

I was taken to Ilkley convalescence home for a while as I couldn’t stop shaking. When I came home I couldn’t stay with my Aunt, but a friend of mine said I could go with him to United Towing Company as they were looking for crew members and I could live aboard, so that’s what I did.

I can’t remember the exact date but we were asked if we would prefer to go to sea on the tug or we could stay at home on a smaller tug and just work on the Hull docks. I decided to go to sea; we knew something was going on when they put guns on the platforms on each side of the boat deck and two navel D.E.M.S.{defensively equipped merchant ships} gunners joined the crew. They were Bob Wallace a geordie and Vic Faerey a cockney.

We went to the shipping office in Postengate to sign on and were given a M.N. badge, so I was now in the Merchant Navy, aboard the S.T. Prizeman. Eventually we sailed down to the South coast and anchored in the Solent. It was full of ships of all kinds, troop ships, hospital ships, navel ships. After a period of relaxing we received orders to sail along the South coast somewhere in the Selsey Bill area, we tied up along side a huge steel platform with a long leg at each corner, we had no idea what it was, but that was apparently what we were going to tow. We realized later it was part of the Mulberry harbour.

It was dark as we sailed and I couldn’t see how many ships sailed with us until a fuel tanker blew up off our port bow. The flames rolled into the air and lit up the whole channel, I’ve never seen so many ships all steaming the same way. When we arrived at Normandy we lay at anchor and awaited further instructions.Smoke screenwere laid around us but we could hear planes diving and explosions,as daylight came we could see dog fights over the cliffs and houses in the distance. The weather was getting worse and when the battleships, Rodney and Nelson, opened up firing inland the noise was terrific, the tugs were having problems getting the Mulbery sections into place. We were asked to go along side the depot ship for instructions, it was the liner Empress of Russia, unfortunately due to the swell we collided with the side of her and damaged our boat including the gun and the platform.

One or two days later we had to go back to Southampton for repairs, it was during this journey I saw my first Flying Bomb, it passed right over our heads, it sounded like a motor bike. After we docked, our skipper informed us we had been to
Arromanches. When we were sea worthy again our orders were to stay in Southampton and do local work, like towing troop ships and hospital ships in and out of Southampton. We did get a trip out to the Needles along with the Dutch tug Swarzea, where two liberty ships had run aground.

After a month or so we were granted four days leave. We changed trains in London on the way but had to wait four hours for our connection. After four hours of flying bombs, I was glad to get out of there. Eventually we sailed back to Hull and I transferred to the Hull tug Irishman. I think the Prizeman had seen better days and was ready for the scrap heap. One of the first jobs we did on the Irishman was to tow a broken down cargo ship, the Oaksworth, up to Blythe. We got a message there was a U. Boat trailing us and three Naval Corvetta came out and dropped depth charges, we reached the destination with no trouble.

The next job I can remember was towing a submarine, the Otway, up the Firth of Forth to Inverkiething to a ship yard were she was due to be broken up.

When the war finished I stayed with U.T.C. and went on the ‘up river tugs’ where I was knocked overboard with a tow rope in the Humber near Saltend and nearly drowned, but that’s another story….

PRIZEMAN CREW

CAPTAIN JIM BARLEY
MATE JACK JORDAN
RADIO ? SPARKS
CHIEF ENGINEER ? FITZCLARK
SECOND ENGINEER WALLY GIBSON
ABLE SEAMAN WALT LEVESLEY
ABLE SEAMAN PETE WIGGLESWORTH
FIREMAN KEN PINKNEY
FIREMAN ? ?
COOK ARCHIE WHITEHURST
GUNNER BOB WALLACE
GUNNER VIC FAEREY

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