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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Northumberland on behalf of Mr. John P. M. Wright. Mr. Wright fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions, and the story has been added to the site with his permission.

John Wright, as a sixteen year old, worked at the coal pit at Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne before he joined the railways, in 1937, where he worked his way up from a cleaner to become a fireman and, finally, a driver. However, he was made redundant after nine months but he soon found another job at Cramlington pit before being recalled to work on the railways.

During the first few weeks of the war, many children were evacuated from Tyneside to small towns and villages in the country. John was sent to Haltwhistle with a stand-by engine which was used to cover breakdowns and to assist other trains climb the steep gradient to Alston, in what is now Cumbria. The railway traffic was constant, necessitating operation of a twenty-four hour shift system.

In December 1939, on receipt of his call-up papers, John reported to HMS Royal Arthur, originally a Billy Butlin鈥檚 camp at Skegness that had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy, to receive recruits. During the six weeks he spent there his time was devoted, mainly, to drill training. John then went to Chatham, to learn about ships boilers, the principles of which were similar to those on railway engines but on a much larger scale. On completion of his training, in February 1940, John, whose service number was CKX100437, joined HMS Kellet, a First World War survey ship converted as a minesweeper. HMS Kellet undertook minesweeping duties along the east coast from Grimsby to as far north as the Faeroe Islands. Grimsby was a major base for Royal Navy minelayers, which sometimes needed to be preceded by minesweepers before they could lay new minefields.

HMS Kellet was at North Shields when, towards the end of May 1940 and at short notice, it was ordered to Chatham, to be made ready to take part in the evacuation of British and French troops from the area around Dunkirk in northern France. Three trips were made to and from Dunkirk. The first was a beautiful day and the ship anchored in Dunkirk harbour without too much interference by enemy activity. Scrambling nets were put over the side and many men were taken on board such that it was difficult to move about the ship. Evacuated men were in every alleyway and on every staircase. They were even sitting on the coal in the ship鈥檚 bunkers. As many men as it was possible to cram onto the ship were carried back to England.

The second trip to Dunkirk was very different. HMS Kellet was machine-gunned by German Stuka bombers. No British fighters were seen in the skies overhead and the Stukas were left to do whatever they wanted, more or less. The bridge was badly shot up but, fortunately, only one officer was wounded. However, on that day John鈥檚 brother, Joseph William Wright, was killed when HMS Wakeful was sunk, the loss of which ship was announced over HMS Kellet鈥檚 tannoy. That was on 29 May 1940. Before the war, Joseph was a naval reservist attached to HMS Calliope based on the River Tyne, and before Dunkirk he had been in active service operations off Crete.

The third trip was at night. Despite the need for all lights to be blacked out, John recalls fifteen feet of flame emanating from HMS Kellet鈥檚 funnel as best Yorkshire coal was piled into the ship鈥檚 boilers. He also recalls the water that night being phosphorescent. The ship berthed by a jetty where about two hundred stretcher cases and other wounded French troops were loaded before it ran aground and snagged one of its screws on an underwater obstacle. Fortunately, it was hauled off by the RNLI Greater London and it was able to return to England where it was docked for a new propeller to be fitted, which took a few days. On completion of repairs, HMS Kellet returned to her minesweeping duties on the east coast.

John Wright spent two years on HMS Kellet before he was transferred to HMS Landguard (Y-56), an ex-US Coastguard Cutter, based at Londonderry in Northern Ireland. HMS Landguard was an oil-burning sloop, so John鈥檚 duties changed as he was no longer needed as a stoker. The ship could be refuelled at sea and it was used to escort convoys, initially to Freetown (Sierra Leone), later to escort Mediterranean convoys to Malta and North Africa, and North Atlantic convoys to and from Newfoundland. Later still, HMS Landguard鈥檚 base of operations moved to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (then, Ceylon) from where it escorted convoys between Mombasa (Kenya) and Asia. At one point, HMS Landguard went to Durban, South Africa, for repairs and a refit, and to Madagascar, to have the bottom of its hull cleaned. John鈥檚 overriding impressions of Durban were the lights that could be seen from sea, as blackout regulations were not needed in South Africa, the hotels and the cinemas. When on shore leave at any port, fisticuff battles were common between men from little ships and those from big ships (cruisers, battleships and carriers)!

During depth charge trials, an undetected oil leak resulted in the main engine blowing up. Turbine blades and all manner of other debris flew through the air yet only a couple of men were injured. Of course, another consequence of this incident was that the ship was taken out of commission, so, in 1944, John found himself drafted to HMS Empress (D-42), an assault carrier and escort aircraft carrier built in the United States. Hellcat fighter bombers, armed with a five hundred pound bomb, rockets and machine guns, were catapulted from the wooden-clad deck, to take part in many raids over the Philippines and East Indies. John saw many Kamikaze attacks by Japanese planes but, fortunately, none were directed on HMS Empress, which was well provisioned with anti-aircraft guns.

When the war ended, HMS Empress returned to Trincomalee from where a round trip was made to Australia and New Zealand, to ferry troops home. When, in 1946, it returned to the United Kingdom, it was to a heroes welcome. The ship鈥檚 crew were then accommodated in wooden huts for about a month, awaiting demobilisation.

While John experienced many scary moments during his service for almost the whole duration of the war, the only time he was genuinely frightened was aboard HMS Kellet when it was rammed by an Icelandic trawler off Banff. He could so easily have been at the very site where his ship was rammed. HMS Kellet was able to reach Peterhead where the gaping hole in her side was planked up and cemented with quick-drying cement, to enable her to return to Grimsby for proper repairs.

Of his wartime experiences, John views them as having been a great adventure during which he, and many like him, was forced to grow up, and learn, quickly. His array of medals awarded include the Burma Star (1941-1945), the Atlantic Star 1939-1945, the Africa Star 1940-1943, the India Service Medal 1939-1945, and the 1939-1945 Victory Medal. Surprisingly, he was not awarded anything for his involvement at Dunkirk. Efforts are being made by his family to have this rectified.

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