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I was on LST 365 (landing ship tanks)which carried about 60 tanks. I was about 20 in the crew of the Royal Navy. It was 1943 and we were in Salerno.

We'd landed all our tanks and got them off the beach, then we had to wait in a bay for a convoy to be formed and there was nothing much to do.
My mates and I, we'd been down below, it was getting very noisy so we said, 'Lets go up.'
So we wnet up on deck and it started to get very nasty with the shells falling around us. So I dived under cover near to where one of the guns were. There were bits sticking out of the gun and I got my head under one of those to take cover. One of my mates said to me 'I wouldn't do that Roger, your head's underneath an ammunition locker!'

I got out quickly as you can imagine and thought it might be safer below. It's very difficult to explain how you felt in those conditions. The noise was tremendous. (Whenever you address a chap in the navy you always call him 'Jack.')

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Helena Noifeld of 大象传媒 Radio Kent and has been added to the website on behalf of Roger Alldis with his permission. He fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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