大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Sarah Housden of Norfolk Adult Education鈥檚 reminiscence team on behalf of Bertie Wells and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was 19 when the war started. I was in the NAAFI on board ship, but within two years I got fed up with it and I gave my notice in. I was home for a couple of weeks and then I got my calling up papers to the Royal Navy. So I had my medical and passed that and I was sent to Butlin鈥檚 at Skegness for training. From there I was sent to Gosport to an area which was for gun boats, torpedo boats and small craft, so I trained and continued all through the war until one day the skipper got a piece of film about four inches long and an inch and a half width. Well, that actually was a piece of the Normandy beaches and showed our position. So we spent the afternoon there. We didn鈥檛 drop an anchor, but just floated, and eventually the dark came and a signal went up that everyone should hush 鈥� no noise. Dawn broke and I was on the bridge looking through my binoculars, and as dawn broke I could see the whole area, all around, was full of ships. As day broke the heavy gun ships took over and bombarded the Normandy beaches from all angles for about an hour. Then the order came to launch the Ducks 鈥� the tank landing craft. Our job being a gun boat was to escort the soldiers into the beach, as close as we could get. The next job was to pick bodies out of the sea. And that was D-Day 鈥� the longest day. I went ashore at Arromanches, and it was a lovely day, nice and warm. But the weather forecast began to deteriorate and the seas went rough with waves about 12 foot high, which began to make the soldiers painfully sick. There were problems 鈥� we had no bread for about three weeks until finally the depot ship came, and I was injured after our boat towed a steam boat away from the beach which then blew up. I was injured in the face and was taken to the Duke of Lancaster which was a hospital ship, and that was the end of D-Day for me.

My stomach had churned with fear on D-Day, always thinking that the next bullet would be mine. The worst part was picking up all those bodies out of the water. I lost three of my ship鈥檚 company, and it was the only time I have ever killed a man, a German, because he got on board when we were about 50 yards from the beach and I had to protect the ship. The memories in my head will never go. The scars inside remain.

The most awful thing for the sailor is rough seas and the nausea. Your face literally turns to green. I remember reaching over the side once, doing the usual 鈥榣osing weight鈥� and I felt awful. I lay down, stood up, lay down, then 鈥渙h鈥� 鈥� five times in 10 minutes. I had been in the navy since 1939, but the rough seas could still get to me.
Learning to swim, as well. They took you out with a rope round you, then released the rope and told you to swim back to the boat!

When it came to being demobbed I had to wait quite a while. Other鈥檚 names kept coming up, but not mine. Eventually the day came when my name was down and I was to be shipped back to England on HMS Fencer, an aircraft carrier. We all went on board and packed our stuff away and then the ship broke down, so we had to disembark again. I was feeling fed up, but the next day another list went up and I was down to be shipped back on HMS Norfolk, with the job of looking after two captains. They said I could drink as much gin as I liked, but I didn鈥檛 drink. But they had a bath in the officers鈥� mess and I made use of it!

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