大象传媒

I will start my story with my first experiance at the age of 14 years old,I had just left school and been a few months working, and on that particular day a fire had started at the Doncaster Plant Works and was still burning out of control into early evening. I was just leaving work at about 6-00pm. when the air raid sirens sounded, on my way home I had to pass over the railway bridge at Bentley West End.I was riding my bike behind a double decker bus when the bombs dropped on the rows of houses to the left of the bridge demolishing about thirty houses and killing
a lot of people. The bus must have caught part of the blast as it went over at an angle and just as quick was back on four wheels.I am sure it was the scariest thing that has happened to me. After the shock of what had just happend I took off like a man possesed, and a policeman tried to stop me for having no lights.
Tom and Stan and I would sit on the wall at bottom of our yard and watch the bombers collecting overhead on their way to bomb Germany. We could also see the gun fire and the bomb explosions when Hull was under attack. It was during these times that the three of us would try and join the Royal Navy. So when we were in our late sixteens
we went to the recruiting office for the Navy in Sheffield,this was a full day of medicals and inteligence tests.Two months after my seventeenth birthday I received a letter to report to H.M.S, Raleigh Torpoint
Devonshire.The next ten weeks of basic training included Gunnery,Commando,and seamanship,and of course we must not forget the many Needles.At this time my buddy Tom had been called up for the Navy but Stan did not make the Navy he finaly joined the paratroops. After basic training I was transfered to H.M.S. Drake (Barracks) for further training of Firefighting,Deep water submerge, and more Seamanship.
Finaly the training part was over so I thought, instead I was transfered to a coastal defence camp at a place called Down Thomas a short way from Plymouth.This was kind of a stressful part of my life in the Navy, as it consisted of spending days and nights on the guns, during the day it was target practice for officers directional training,and of course nightime we were on the guns in the defence of Plymouth.
Finaly the reason thatI joined the Navy was to go to sea. I joined H.M.S. Bulolo in Southampton which was being prepared for
South East Asia Command. H.M.S. Bulolo was used primaraly as a headquarters ship,meaning that before a headquarters was established on shore most of the operation would be controlled from aboard this ship.as you can imagine she was a prime target.
After completing several sea trials we were ready to set sail for the far east.
On our way we made stops at Gibralter,Alexander,Aden to refuel,Bombay and Madras where we joined with many more ships in preparation for a landing at Penang in the Malaca Straits,the landing was carried out with not to much opposition.
Days after this operation the Atom Bomb was dropped and that was the end of world war 2.
We were then ordered to proceed to Singapore
were I witnessed the signing of the peace treaty and the handing over of the Japanese
Officers Swords at the front of Government House.It was about a week after this that we set sail with H.M.S.Sussex to the then Dutch East Indies where we took aboard 500
women and children and brought them back to Singapore. The war was over and we were on our way home some of us thought, only to be dissapointed. We dropped anchor in Colombo Ceylon and a big number of the ships company was put ashore to make room for people who were due for demob before us.
Our journey continued across Ceylon by rail
riding on wooden seats to Trincolamee.
This turned out to be not so bad, more like a rest camp with beautiful beaches which we took full advantage of, but as they say all good things must come to an end and after two years away from home we were ready.
The excitement was not over yet. Two days out of Colombo we ran smack into a huricane. This was sure a nail biting time.
At last the jolly old shores of England on the horizen.and within a week we were fitted for the civy suit.The arrival date in England was May 1947 and I was 21 years old in August 1947. NOT A BAD FOUR YEARS IN A YOUNG MANS LIFE.
EDWARD (TED) BENISTON.

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