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This story is transcribed by me Graham Shepherd , from notes following discussions with Margaret Dye , and will be added to the site with her permission . She understands the sites terms and conditions .

After finishing my basic training at HMS Royal Arthur at Skegness ( Butlins Holiday Camp )we were paraded and addressed by a Commander , who said that because the RN Officer casualties at D Day in June had not been as great as expected they would select only 5 % to go on the commissioning course . I was not selected , but we were offered the chance to select the branch to transfer to or discharge . I chose Wireless mechanic , which eventually became Radar mechanic , as discharge would have meant going into the army .

After base training we were formed into classes and sent to Malvern for Infantry training . After taking part in a field training on a rainy day , I fell ill with pneumonia and was taken to sick bay . The new drug , Sulphurlinamide developed by May and Baker helped me to recover after two days in a coma . I was amused by the daily round by the Surgeon Commander . He was preceded by the Matron who called the ward to attention . If you were well enough you had to sit up in bed with arms folded at attention . If not you had to lay to attention with your arms to the side !
The last person in the procession was a small VAD , Nurse Bird , whose duty was to carry a tray containing the ledger ( record of each patient ) , a pen and bottle of ink . While the Commander was examining you , Nurse Bird would attempt to catch the attention of one of the sitting up patients and then make funny faces until they laughed . Matron would immediately give the culprit a hard look and the command ‘ get that smile off your face ‘ .

When I recovered I was given seven days sick leave . When I returned I found that the class I had been with had been drafted to Newcastle University . I joined the next class which was drafted to Northampton Square Polytechnic , London , near to the Angel Islington , for lectures on the latest developments in electronics - 4 x 2 hr lectures Monday to Friday and 2 x 2 hrs on Saturday morning . While the class were billeted in the East End . I was able to live at home for six months with my mother receiving a billeting allowance . Even during the war the Radar mechanics course was 14 months ie . 6 months at a college , 6 months at the Radar school , HMS Collingwood , in Fareham , Hampshire and 2 months in Port Radar in Glasgow , putting theory into practice , repairing Radar sets . The RN at that time expected all trades to be independent of main shore services abroad .

Whilst in London I experienced what I believe to be the second V2 rocket on London - the first was to the west of London - . It occurred on a Saturday morning when Professor Nelcome of University College was describing the Miller Time Base , known colloquially as the " flip flop" circuit . It was used to produce a " saw tooth " wave form - a sinusoidal AC wave ( 500 cycles / sec for radar equipment , which in turn would take the dot across a Cathode Ray Tube screen comparatively slowly and then return it rapidly . In those days it was achieved by linking together two thermionic pentode valves . ( now done by transistors incorporated in a chip )

The Professor was in front of the demonstration bench , arms outstretched illustrating the up and down currents in the circuit . It was a typical lecture room with desks and benches rising up towards the ceiling . We had just reached " flip flop " twice , when on the third flip there was a very loud bang . The windows rattled , breaking one pane , and the lecture theatre filled with dust . We all dived under the desks and as we emerged saw the professor slowly struggling to stand up against the wall where the blast had thrown him . He was apparently unhurt and , in that silence which occurs for a fraction of a second after such a blast one wag had the temerity to shout " flop " . The professor did not appreciate the wit at that time !
I understand that the V2 fell close to Smithfield Market which was about half a mile away .

While in London I witnessed two incidents involving bombers - RAF & USAF . The first was heralded by a distant sound of a multi engineered aircraft one morning on a bright day with a clear sky . A group of flying fortresses appeared - B19 s? - about 40/50 , and began circling slowly over South London . Eventually , they were joined by another 4 groups . When all were assembled - about 200/250 - a very light was fired and they all peeled off in a steady stream to the East . Target ? not known .

On another occasion , it was a spring evening and dusk was falling - the black out had been eased slightly - when we heard the drone of aircraft . No air raid warning and then , looking up , silhouetted against the sky was a multitude of Lancaster's , Sterling and I think Wellington bombers . As they passed overhead , we saw that a number of them were using their Aldiss signalling lamps pointing downwards and flashing " dot - dot - dot - dash " , Morse for ‘V’ . They were spread across the sky and it took quite a long time for them to pass . There could well have been 300/500 of them .

VE day was declared while I was in London . We did not celebrate very much as my class knew that as soon as we had completed our course and achieved Leading Radar Engineer we would be drafted , either to Trincomalee , Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) Naval Base for the invasion of Malaysia , assisting the 12th Army whose HQ were in Rangoon , Burma or else to HMS Golden Hind , Sydney , Australia , the base for the RN Pacific Fleet . Having been shown unedited newsreel footage of the Kamikaze attacks on the fleets and the fighting qualities of the Japanese forces , it was expected that heavy casualties would be experienced in the conquest of Japan and Malaysia .

We were all relieved to hear the news that the Atomic bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the surrender of Japan four days later .

To me the end of the war was VJ day , 14th August 1945 . Subsequently I was drafted to Ceylon onto a aircraft direction cruiser HMS Jamaica - 4 - 5th Cruiser Squadron - and served on her while doing " slowing the Flag " cruises around the East Indies Station , which stretched from Penang to Rangoon , Bay of Bengal , the Indian sub - continent , East Africa and many of the island territories in the Indian Ocean , Mauritius , Seychelles , Zanzibar , Rodriguez , Dar - es - Salam , Durban and to Simonstown Dockyard , Cape Province for a re - fit .

We came home to Plymouth , Devonport , and the Captain had ordered that I be retained on the ship as all the other Radar Mechanic had been demobbed and Jamaica was going out to the West Indies Station , where eventually she took part in the film of The battle with the pocket battleship Graf Spee " which was scuttled in Montevideo .

Fortunately I had been offered a position under a government scheme to start studies for a Chemical Engineering degree .

When the Korean war broke out , Jamaica was sent there and was hit by some shore batteries , killing and wounding some ratings .

I was demobbed eventually in Feb . 1948 after foreign service and demobb leave . I subsequently volunteered for the RNR until it was disbanded .

Then I served in the Auxiliary Fire Service ( AFS ) , sat the exams . for the Institute of Fire Engineers and was made Station Officer when the government of the day disbanded the Civil Defence and the AFS .

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