大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People's Ward site by Rachel Newland CSV Storygatherer on behalf of Dudley Light who fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

People like me who were born in 1926; my birth 20.01.26, probably experienced several aspects of the war. I was 13 at the outbreak of the war and I experienced one school practice evacuation to a disused isolation hospital in the Forest of Dean, just before the war. Then joining up with Tonbridge school for a period of time after the outbreak. Then came Dunkirk and I clearly recall the trainloads of troops, English and French passing through my local station as I waited to catch my train to school. Shortly afterwards witnessing a parade of Guardsmen who were literally just back from those beaches parading on our school playing fields. We were all impressed by the wonderful bearing and discipline of these men so shortly after the ordeal.

Then came the Blitz, night after night sheltering from bombs and the incredible racket. After finishing my prep. I used to make wooden models of ships whilst keeping my mother company in our cellar/shelter. She was terrified but remained cheerful and stoic throughout.

At 15 I joined my local Home guard. I suspect that I was the original Silly Boy as per Dad's Army but was part of what was called The Mobile Platoon and we were trained by a Guards unit to be a Special Reaction unit. I was the youngest; the eldest was about 60 as I remember! I do not think we would have lasted long!

At this stage, getting to and from school was becoming difficult. The line was often closed or diverted so I changed schools away from the London area down to Kent where I finished my schooling and from where I volunteered for the Navy, being called up at the end of 1943 having just taken my School certificate.

This was a strange time for lads of my age. We were approaching the invasion of France (D Day) and the priority was clearly to get troops for this major attack. Despite having been selected for Officer training and having passed the initial course all of those involved were told that we could go straight on a similar course in the Amy but not in the Navy. We had all volunteered for the Navy and all decided to stay despite the change in direction.

I went on to become a Gunnery Radar operator and eventually joined my first ship. HMS Beaufort (Hunt Class Destroyer) in Malta in June 1944.
Whilst the worst of the action had already taken place we were involved in some interesting activities around the Greek Islands of the Dodecanese and Aegean where we seemed to pick up or drop off various people, presumably agents or Liaison personnel. This we continued along the Dalmatian coast where Tito was very active. We also followed the army's progress up the Italian Front and became involved in the rather dicey reaction to the joint arrival of our forces and those of Tito's in the Port of Trieste. I was glad to be on the ship alongside in the harbour, even though we had a lot of semi spent Yugoslav bullets arriving. (Friend or Foe) It was at this point and we were quite close to the front, that one became aware of the terrible hardships of local people. Italians, Yugoslavs and particularly Greeks had suffered starvation in many cases extreme. The first time in my life I saw children (and dogs) with rickets. We often gave food to people when we could. Begging was a regular feature whenever we put in to small harbours.

We were now nearing the end of the European war but the last major operation we were involved in was the relief of Piraeus. A long and hazardous mine sweeping job for which we were the escort. Many sweepers were damaged or lost before we finally dropped anchor near the Port, to be, I think, the first British vessel to so following the operation. Ironically and only a short time later, the Greek civil war started and we were back shelling the place I think in support of Royalist forces.

Whilst dates are somewhat vague, it seems that, after a brief return to Trieste, we were ordered back to the UK via Malta. We arrived off Malta on VE day before sailing home to Devonport to de ammunition before sailing to Cardiff to re-fit for the Far East. Then came VJ Day and HMDS Beaufort paid off and was later sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Although that was the end of the war I remained in for a further 2 years and a further tour of the Med.

I was lucky but I sometimes wonder what that luck might have been had I transferred to the Army. To my knowledge, four of my school friends who were in the army lost their lives and two in the Royal Air Force. Obviously many, many older men gave their lives but so many that were just barely teenagers at the outbreak never saw their maturity. We must remember them all.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.