大象传媒

As soon as war broke out I volunteered for the 鈥楴avy Fleet Air Arm. I went to Worcester for my medical but they wouldn鈥檛 pass me as they said I had bad eyes. 12 months later I was conscripted as Grade 1 material! I was 18 years old. I was sent to HMS Duke in Malvern for my basic training. From the Duke I was sent to a transit camp on the Isle of White. The Germans were heavily bombing Portsmouth and that was my first encounter with the reality of war and the terror of bombs. From there I went to RAF Locking (near Weston) and trained to be a Fleet Air Arm Mechanic.

I was sent all over the country, Scotland, Liverpool, back to Scotland. Eventually I was sent to HMS Tracker with 1832 Fighter Flight attached to 846 Squadron. We did convoy duties out in the Atlantic and Gibraltar and the Russian Convoy. We were out with Captain Bill Walker; we used to refuel his ships out at sea. They were our escorts. We were involved in the D-Day landings, unfortunately we got hit and had to limp back into Belfast. The 846 Squadron left Tracker in Belfast and we immediately picked up HMS Trumpeter and went back to Russia.

We later had to hunt the Turpits, a few of our ships were damaged but Trumpeter was OK. Our aircraft used to fly over the Norwegian Fjords bombing German Ships.

Towards the end of the war we were off the Denmark coast and we saw a German Sub rise up showing a black flag, surrendering.

After the war the Squadron was disbanded and I went to Worthy Down in Winchester to finish my training as a petty officer. During that time the war in Japan had finished as well and I went on a rehab course to be a welder.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Tom Morgan and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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