大象传媒

These are the highlights of notes written at my request by my Father Reginald Brearey when he was 77.
Born in 1920 he passed away at age 80.
For the duration of W.W.2 he was a Wireman in the R.N.P.S.
His Service No.was CMX-68774.
Dad was Mentioned in a Despatch for Distinguished Service but seldom spoke of his experiences.
He wrote of being notified to report to The Royal Naval Dockyard Chatham by Feb.5th.1939 three days after his 20th. birthday and the indoctrination he experienced there.
As he was an electrician, he and several others were given a test if they passed they were declared Wiremen (a.k.a Wires) A term that differentiated the "Hostilities Only" fellows from Regular Navy electricians.
They were then put to work helping the Dockies in converting fishing trawlers to mine sweepers, the odour of fish however remained.
Dad was transferred to Hull then Grimsby (H.M.S. Pembroke) shortly after this Dad and two other 鈥淲ires鈥� spent three days at sea doing simulated sweeps under a dour Scottish fisherman turned Captain, none of them had ever been on a boat previously and were terrified.
In September of 1939 he was posted to D.W. Fitzgerald a converted trawler which now had 1100 6 volt car batteries in the hold, they were to supplement the power from the generators when they pulsed and part of his duty was to top them up.
While testing a newly installed oscillator used to explode the new acoustic mines they set one off too close to the ship causing enough damage that they had to beach it. Later while serving on War Duke an explosion and fire occurred in the battery hold and Dad suffered a perforated lung from exposure to the fumes.
When he recovered he and a John McCoy were dispatched to Canada via. Gouroc Scotland then New York on a large ship with 12000 troops who were going on to the Middle East. Part of their assignment was to inspect B.Y.M.S.鈥檚 (Brooklyn Yard Motor Sweeper)being built in the Brooklyn Naval Yard, these future mine sweepers used a flywheel to generate electricity instead of batteries.
From New York they continued on to Shelburne Nova Scotia then St. Andrews New Brunswick where they were to assist in the outfitting of M.M.S. 256 & 257.
While there they were billeted at Fort Tipperary the home of a Lady Shaughnessy, Dad mentioned her kindness many times including the fact that she was sending clothing and food to my Mother and the wife of Dads friend and fellow sailor John McCoy back in Britain .
Dad notes that at a later date he saw John killed in action.
On the evening before their departure for England a farewell party was held for the crew and a 鈥済ood time鈥� was had by all resulting in them being escorted back to the ships.
After a stop over for fuel in neutral Horta they traveled on to New South Wales where a few days later Dad鈥檚 services were requested for an eight hour sweep aboard The Calverton, as they waited in the locks German bombers came over and bombed Swansea as well as the lock area Abandon Ship was ordered.
The Calverton suffered some split plates and sank along with many other trawlers that night, M.M.S. 256 and 257 however were not hit.
Dad goes on to say that by 1944 many of the converted trawlers had been replaced by 200 or so M.M.S.s and around June 2nd.he remembers 50 or so crews assembling on a dock and being addressed by General Eisenhower who made some humorous comments then outlined their participation in the D - Day Invasion.
They set sail for the French coast off Juno Beach and swept the beach area detonating many mines under a smoke screen provided by M.T.B.鈥檚 then along with seven other MMS. they were ordered to surround and tie up to a Monitor named Lord Roberts which was lobbing shells from it鈥檚 19鈥� guns,the noise and motion caused by the firing of the guns was tremendous and a change of underwear became necessary even for Lt. Diggle the Skipper.
They were told later that they were surrounding the Roberts in order to protect her from enemy torpedos.
While waiting for further orders they were amazed at the thousands of airplanes going over and activities on the water such as the German E-Boats being shot at rammed and sunk by MTB鈥檚, there were many bodies in the water noticeably very young German casualties.
They were then ordered to the Scheldt Estuary near Ternuezen and as the Allied land forces came through the area Army Engineers strung cables from 256 and other MMS to provide power for a small Hospital where casualties were being tended to.
A few days later Dad and some of his shipmates consumed the liquor they received as a thank you for the hook-up and started hitch hiking to Ghent for some fun, unfortunately they wound up in the brig courtesy of the M.P.鈥檚 who stopped for them.
Clearing the Scheldt of mines was their next job, it was interrupted by sniper fire which sank 256 and injured crew members including Dad who spent three weeks in a Ghent Hospital, Skipper Diggle lost an arm. They later were told an MTB shot up the sniper nest killing a number of German soldiers.
Hoping that with no ship to serve on and the War coming to a close he would be sent home Dad was disappointed when he and others were trucked into Germany to a location where German prisoners were shovelling quicklime over corpses, He didn鈥檛 know where he was but the smell was terrible and it was called 鈥淥peration Milk鈥�
Two days later the Navy brass decided it was the Armies job much to the sailors relief.
Over the next while Dad and his mates were transported to Ostend then back to England on a supply ship, signed off that no medical problems existed got kitted out with civilian wear and at last home to Mom and I in Liversedge, Yorkshire.
Dad worked as an electrician and cinema projectionist until 1953 when our family, Dad Mom myself and my two Sisters immigrated to Canada.

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