大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Peter Quinn of Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Bill Dixon, and was added to the site with his permission by the staff of Blackpool Central Library.

In early 1945 I was a cook on board the Royal Mail troopship, The Highland Princess. In Liverpool, we picked up a thousand Russian POWs who were going back to Odessa on the Black Sea. They were very reluctant to disembark when we got there, because they knew they would be sent back to the Berlin front.

At Odessa, we picked up allied troops, who had been liberated from German POW Camps by the Russian Army and transhipped them to Port Said, Egypt.

From Port Said we picked up Anzac troops, who had been at the battle of El Alamein, and took them to Perth, Australia and Hobart, Tasmania. Near the quayside in Hobart was a huge Jam Factory and as we berthed all these girls were teeming out after work. All the Aussie and Kiwi soldiers couldn鈥檛 get ashore quick enough!

From Hobart we went to Littleton, New Zealand, loaded frozen lamb and crossed the Pacific Ocean, around Tierra del Fuego to the Falklands. One time on the voyage, I was helping the other cook to carry a huge pan of vegetable soup. He had a bad limp and always wore galoshes. When we鈥檇 finished, I turned away and then looked back and was shocked to see he had slipped and sat in the hot soup! He was shouting and swearing 鈥� we grabbed him, stripped off his clothes and tried to sort him out. The chef arrived with a bottle of brandy and I said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e only a few minutes from serving and now haven鈥檛 enough soup!鈥� He said, 鈥淛ust top it up with stock, and finish with cream and parsley,鈥� 鈥� nobody complained amongst the diners.

As we were nearing the Falklands in convoy, a German Focke Wolf bomber was sighted coming out of the sun, preparing to attack. A Seafire fighter was launched from a nearby ship to give chase. Sometime later, the Seafire came back over the convoy and waggled his wings in victory before ditching in the sea ahead of us, as he had to do.

We then went on to Montevideo, where we loaded tons of frozen beef which we duly delivered to London. The end of a five month round the world trip.

Bill Dixon was awarded two US medals, the Mediterranean and Mid East War Zone Bar and also the Victory Medal, for his service. The proclamation from President Harry Truman reads:

"To you who answered the call of your country and served in its Merchant Marine to bring about the total defeat of the enemy, I extend the heartfelt thanks of the Nation. You undertook a most severe task - one which called for courage and fortitude. Because you demonstrated the resourcefulness and calm judgment [sic] necessary to carry out that task, we now look to you for leadesrship and example in further serving our country in peace."

[The author of this piece has written a number of other contributions to the People鈥檚 War website. They are:

My last day ashore
My first ship 鈥� M. V. Wim
Jumping ship then the Ocean Volga
Convoy preparations
A Lancastrian in New York
Thanks Yanks!
Voyage around the world
I meet the "SS Grodno" and the cook!

He has also contributed two poems:

The SS Grodno 鈥� one more trip 1939
The last day of SS Kingswood]

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