大象传媒

Disclaimer for story gatherers: This story was added on behalf of (Mr Thomas Pim) by (Jane Barnes) of London CSV volunteers. The author is aware of the site's terms and conditions.

I joined my first ship the SS Llangollen at the age of 15 years.
We did our first voyage around the Atlantic. We went to Tobruk to rescue
Solders who had been badly injured and wounded. We were merchant seaman, so civilians and we were sent on a Dunkirk type mission to try and save soldiers who had been badly wounded in the fighting. We were ordered to fill our ship with survivors.

Throughout the whole rescue operation the German and Italian air force was bombing us relentlessly. We were loading wounded soldiers in cargo nets trying to get them aboard the hospital ship.

I later transferred to A Royal navy ship and went to Russia.
We sailed out of Grimsby and headed towards Russia. We were part of a convoy of 47 ships which were trying to protect oil tankers bound for Russia. It was so cold that instead of going around bare Island, we had to hug the Norwegian coast.

We were constantly attacked by the Germans and our ships were bombed and torpedoed on the hour every hour. The German Messerschmitt airplanes would attack our ship with machine guns and kill the men on the deck. They also used armour piercing shells, which meant that some men were killed while they slept in their bunks.

It was so cold that men injured did not bleed, as their blood froze on their wounds, such was the low temperature. I was injured myself when a torpedo hit our ship.
I was just walking to the bridge when the torpedo hit. My back was on fire and I was hit in the back by shrapnel. Many men were killed on the Bridge, during this particular attack. Again due to the low temperatures my blood froze and I did not bleed. This probably saved my life.
In the merchant navy if you are injured your pay ceases at the time you are unable to work. This is not the case in the Royal Navy or the Army.
Merchant seaman used to leave money for loved ones in Allocation notes. Shipping companies would check ships records and chase up any over payments to merchant seaman鈥檚 loved ones. There were 47 ships in the original convoy, only 9 ships reached their destination.
I have written a book which fully docuements my experiences from 1941-1945 called " Destiny of Life" and a copy is avaliable from the Imperial war museum in london. This book provides full and frank details of all of my Wartime experiences.

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