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Peter Wilson

My husband was brought up by his grandmother and in 1937 she enlisted him in the Navy training ship ‘Arethusa’ as a boy of 15. He passed his exam into the Royal Navy in l939 as ordinary seaman on the ‘Repulse’, battle cruiser.

He spent the first year patrolling the Atlantic down the east coast of America and Canada, returning to Scapa Flow for supplies. They sunk 5 U boats and rammed two more. He passed his exam for gunnery in 1940.

In 1941, the ship docked at Birkenhead and he was immediately drafted to another destroyer ‘Ghurkha’, to escort merchant ships to Gibraltar. Near Gibraltar, he was torpedoed and the ship sunk and the survivors were picked up by a Dutch destroyer after several hours on the carry float, to be deposited in Gibraltar. He was promoted to leading seaman.

In 1942, he was transferred to another ship to go to Malta, to escort ships between there and Alexandria. Then, they went to the North African coast, Derma, to bombard German positions in early morning in the hours of darkness. On the way back, they were torpedoed from an E boat and hit mid ship, and they were towed back to Alexandria by another destroyer. On that trip, Peter shot down a German plane that was dive-bombing the ship. He was promoted to Petty Officer.

At Alexandria, they were manoeuvred into a floating dock. Peter had volunteered previously and he was picked for Special Service. He was in charge of thirty-three men going through the Sahara Desert by lorries for three weeks. They arrived at Sousse in Tunisia where they lived in deserted Barracks left by the French. They passed English and German lines on the way. They were sent there to clear the harbour of bombed ships, so that water and supplies could get through to the English troops.

Back in the Navy, they joined an English ship to Taranto, Italy, to prepare the harbour for invasion by British troops. They left there in December l943 and returned to Pembroke. They did various sorties from there and Peter was granted 7 days End of War leave on 11 March 1946.

He left the Navy in 1947 and enrolled in the Royal Fleet Reserve Devonport.
He was discharged from that in March 1951.

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