大象传媒

I was pensioned off at the age of 61, board stiff as you will imgine after working all ones life. I could not sleep as I was constantly thinking of the good and bad times with my shipmates, most of whose names I can not remember. These thoughts are not of battles won or lost but of the little things we remember.

Here are some of my memories from the second world war.

I joined the Navy in April 1943, after 6 weeks training in Gosport,I was 19 and a sailor.

My first ship was the HMS Warspite(1943),we left Gosport for Algiers. We got one slice of bread for breakfast, one for dinner and two for tea, grumbles went round, we wante more, we got more but when we got to the Bay of Biscay there was bread piled up, most of us were sick as dogs (sea sick), there was a reason for rationing us after all. When we got to the Med it was like a park lake, we were all sailors once more. Our mess deck were the hold of the ship, which were boarded half way up, one of our mates got caught smoking, thats when we found out that underneth us was full of explosives, after that we layed under the stars on deck that night, not that it would of made that much difference if we had been hit.

The Warspite was badly damaged at Solerno. it was flooded, all the men in the boiler rooms and engine rooms were traped down there. After it was emptied out volenteers went below to get their dead comrades out.

On a lighter note we had to make our own fun on board. Some of us made a snake out of rope and one sat on the table on the mess deck with a turban on his head, tin whistle in his mouth the snake would go right up between the ladder to the next deck, we had a very fine piece of cotten attatched to the head.

I also remember we had pilchards for dinner one day, hundrads of tins were warmed up, when we opend them up the tin inside had made them go bad, they were taken back to the Galley with this complaint, here they were taken out of the tins, warmed up again and sent back to us, no one would eat them so a sample was taken to the officer of the day, he said they were ok, the were not eaten, the next morning we were all called to the quater deck, the first officer wanted to know who the culprits were, who had splattered pilchards in tomato sauce all over the pay masters cabin, no one murmered a word, everyday for 10 days we were asked the same question... who did it? we never actually found out who did it.

I have a habit of whistling, I was on watch in the boiler room and I was whistling a tune to myself, when down comes the engineering officer, he put me on a charge for whistling, he said it sounded like a valve leaking and was an offence, I was repremanded for this.

WE were not aloud to smoke on the mess deck....but rules are made to be broken, we used to sit at our table having a game of cards, we would hold a fag in our hand under the table and have a quick sneaky puff. A staircase ran above our table, the cheif petty officer would come down to go to his office at the middle of the mess deck, he would say as he passed "its abit cloudy down here" that was a hint for us to pack it up.

Any dispute between the lads was easily put right, an area was roped off on the deck, the two lads would get in the " ring" and get it out of their system. The one who draws blood first was the winner, then there would be a hand shake and that would be the end of it.

Joe Loss and his orchestra came aboard the Warspite to entertain us, I remember the blonde singer sung "Sunday Monday and Always, we gave them a lift back home.

After I left the Warspite I was drafted to the HMS Vimy (1944), on the North Atlantic convoys, it was a very old ship which rattled along at 25 knots, when I first came aboard the LT Commander picked me as his flanky (batman), I had to call him every morning at 7am with a cup of coffee and a jug of water to shave, during th day id do odd jobs for him eg: washing and iorning, he was supposed to give me a couple of bob a week...but he never did!!

One evening the officers were having a drink. The enginering officer had just had a bath when the rest of the officers started messing around, when I went to claen the bath all the towels I had washed were in the bath which was full of thick soapy water, so I just wrung them out and hung them in the boiler room to dry out, they dried out like hard board, I put them back in to the commanders chest of drawers. The next day he sent for me, he wanted an explanation as to why his towels were hard, I told him the truth I said Id washed them once and didnt want to do them again. He gave me a right telling off, I thought he was going to put me on a charge, he didnt he sent me back to the boiler room, I was happy to be a stoker again

We were finally attacked, we got holed afew times just above the water line but with it being so rough we had water coming in to the engine rooms. At the forward end of the ship we had to stuff all our hammocks along the bulkheads to stop the water.

My next ship was the HMS Swift (1944), we were crossing the channel with hundrads of other ships, as we neared France before a shot could be fired one of our floatilla (HMS Servirne) was torpedoed, we slowed down to pick up survivors, as we dragged them aboard our captin gave the signal to get back on course, we had to leave some men in the water, if we had not moved we would of been a sitting target for the u-boat,. Later the planes came over in their thousands, you couldnt see a piece of sky, what a sight. We bombed the coast but the Germans had guns in the woods, which were mobile, HMS Nelson used it 16inch guns but the only way it could be done was to send a small craft in, so the Germans would fire at it then the Nelson could get a range before this gun moved again. This was the only way to stop these guns. One of our jobs was to have a piece of rope attatched to the Nelson as when it fired the 16inch guns it would sloo off course. We would pull it back into position ready to fire again. The Nelson finally got rid of the mobile guns.After things had settled down we took our injured men on board back home. Then we returned straight back to the invasion. As things started to quieten down the invasion was well advanced, on June 23rd we anchored approx 5 and a half miles off Ouistreham light house, all was quite.

At 7am on the 24th I went to the washroom to get ready for my watch in the boiler room (8am-12noon), as I came out of the washroom there was a great explsion, I was flat on my back, as I picked myself up I heard "ACTION STATIONS" we all had to get to our certain positions, by the time I got to my station the captain was giving the order to batton hatches down, you could hear the screams from men that were trapped down below but there was no chance for them. All this happened in minutes, it seemed like hours.At about 720am the captain realized there was nothing we could do to save the ship and gave the order to "ABANDON SHIP" I couldnt swim so luckly after Id jumped in to the sea my mate Gaffy grabbed hold of me by the hair and dragged me to the Carley float. We sat and watched our ship sink we were picked up by a passing ship and taken to Southhampton.

After we left Southhampton we were stationed in London on rescue and demolistion work. It was being attacked by doodle bugs (pilotless planes) they caused a heck of a lot of damage and deaths.

Our accomodation was an old warehouse in South Kensington, we left every morning in lorries. Our job was to pull down dangerous buildings and repair roofs and windows that had been damaged by blasts. When the air raid siren went off and the doodle bugs came over then our job became rescue work. The nxt thing our enermy sent over were rockets, they were deverstating, you could not see them just a flash and a heck of an explosion. We were on our way back to the depot in south Kensington one saturday morning at about noon, we got as far as the traffic lights on the way in to New Cross, when a rocket had a direct hit on a Woolworths store afew hundred yards down the road. I think there was about 184 people killed. Both sides of the road got it. We were there till 1am, there was nothing more we could do.

Looking on the happier side of things, the old saying was "all the girls love a sailor". While in london my pal asked me to make a foursome, little did I realise it but it was with two married women. Anyway we arrived at the picture housein Kings road Chealsa to meet our dates, I was not happy with what we were doing. As it happened my mate went off to the toilet which made me notice a young lady standing in the foyer. I asked her for the time, to which she replied "Theres a clock above my head." "Oh is there?" I said and looked up, then I asked her if she was waiting for someone, she said she wasnt so I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere with me, she said yes, I explained the situation, how I was unhappy going out with a married woman. We dashed out of the entrance and jumped on a bus. We had a laugh as we watched out of the bus window, seeing my mate looking for me. We had a good night oout and incidently I married this young lady two weeks later, we married at Chealsa Town Hall on a cold suday morning. We had spam and chips for our wedding breakfast in a cafe in Flood Street. After our breakfast we went back to my wifes room in the Pheonic Arms Pub. I had to be back at my post in South Kensington at 7am Monday morning....but guess what happened, I overslept till 10am. I arrived back at my post three and a half hours late, i as immediatly sent before the skipper (captain). The captain was a very out right chap, he had a false leg, I think thats why he was given the position on shore, anyway he asked me to give him an explanation of why I was late for duty. I explained that I had just got married the day before and I overslept this morning, which made me really think I was in for it now, as i was telling him I saw a slight grin on his face, he then said "Well Currie, where do you come from?" I told him Middlesbourgh, then he said 14 days leave have a nice time and congratulations. He even broght me my train ticket home. I thought his bark was worse than his bite, my wife and I enjoyed my leave thanx to the captain.

TRAUMA

I thought I had finished my story but sometimes I awake in the night, my mind full of things which I had forgotten there are quite alot of blank spaces.

I can only remember afew of the names of my shipmates of the ships I served on I remember one pal John Hogg, he came from Bill Quay Gateshead, another from the HMS Swift nick named Gaffy, then there was Smithy on the Warspite.

I wonder now if this is trauma from all those years ago, we never heard of this sort of thing, we went from one ship to another, throught thick and thin and to my mind we were as fit as a fiddle, as the saying goes.

I cant even remember the events from V.E. day, I know we had a street party but thats it. I hope that one day I will be able to fill these blanks.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.