大象传媒

Had shore leave and visited Perth. I must admit that I fell in love with Australia after only a few days. There were plenty of submarines in Freemantle. We are the first destroyer in this dock. We left Freemantle to make our way to Sydney. Weather was very rough for most of the 5 days passing through the Great Australian Bight. Passing under the Sydney Bridge and into the King George 5th Dock endeared me even more to Australia. As it was early February, the weather was very hot. I received a visitor soon after we docked. It was the friend that I used to go around with before entering the Royal Navy. He had a shore job in the dockyard, which you would describe as a cushy number. With a job like that it did not make me feel sorry for him when he told me how he would like to be aboard a ship. Seeing him reminded me of Camberwell Green and the young lady that I spent hours writing letters to and who wrote back. Being apart, our letters had become more loving and personal over the past months. Spent two weeks in Sydney, the ship undergoing repairs, which gave us time to have some shore leave. Enjoyed our stay and the kindness that was shown to us. One afternoon while getting away from the city centre came across an open-air swimming pool. Entering I sat and watched the swimmers enjoying themselves. Sitting in the hot sun and listening to the voices and the laughter the War seemed a very long way away. When I got up and left it was to make my way back to the city centre. Walking along past a busy tram stop, I was stopped by a young teenager. He was about sixteen very polite and nervous. Explaining to me that he was waiting for two sailors that had been invited to his house for dinner. He told me they were on H.M.S.鈥� Indefatigable鈥� and as that was berthed behind us I listened to what he had to say. They had failed to meet him and as his mother was cooking dinner would I like to have dinner with them. Feeling at first suspicious and upon questioning him further, finally decided to accompany him to his home and dinner. We first had a tram ride to take us away from the busy city area. I only wish that the names and location of the area have not been forgotten. The teenager lived in a smart apartment. His mother was a kind lady and seeing them; together and also how kind they were to me, felt guilty about how rude and suspicious I was towards him. After we had dinner, she suggested we go to the cinema. That was very convenient because there was one on the opposite side of the road to where they lived. She had asked a lot of questions about England, the air raids, and food shortages and seemed very concerned. It was some weeks later that I learned she sent food parcels to my mother in England. Her name was Mrs. Price. Cannot remember the son鈥檚 Christian name. A daughter was away serving in one of the Australian Women鈥檚 services. Went to the cinema after dinner and she made it very clear to me that she would pay for the evenings treat. She was a very kind lady and treated me like a son. I did invite the young boy to visit the ship and showed him around when he eventually came to the dock. Buying her a bunch of flowers and delivering them to her earned me a telling off but it was a small way to show my gratitude. Perhaps I should have kept in touch with the family but the war was still raging and being young, you quickly forget to write them.
Left Sydney after two weeks and proceeded to Manus (Admiralty Islands) in the Pacific. Arrived a week later. From there we proceeded to Ulithi. Staying for just a week our next journey took us to join up with the Americans to take part in the battle for Okinowa. The journey of the 鈥榃help鈥� since we left Newcastle has been briefly recorded. They are from notes and date is quickly written down at the time. They hide the emotions that we felt covering those thousands of miles at sea. Also the things we saw. The terrible things of war. The beauty and the cruelty of the sea, which you learn to love and respect. It is recorded briefly yet it could be made into a book. Reading from my notes when our Task Force joined the Americans to take part in the Okinowa operation it seemed that we would be at sea for four to six weeks. Owing to engine defects stopped with oilers after 1st strike, no opposition encountered. Engines all right rejoined Task Force attacked island of Ishigati for three days. Few Japanese planes attacked us. One suicide plane crashed on to the flight deck of H.M.S. 鈥淚ndefatigable`` She flew planes off later that day. H.M.S. Ulster hit by own fleet shells between Engine Room and No.2 Boiler Room. We accompanied our aircraft carriers while they carried out the bombing raids on the Japanese then had to return to the oilers as the U.S. Task Force 58 had intercepted the Jap Fleet and had badly mauled it. Later we had to leave our force owing to trouble with our Anti Submarine Detector equipment arrived in Leyte on the 12th April 1945.On Saturday 24th April received word by letter that brother Harry had been wounded fighting the Japanese in Burma. He was later awarded the Military Medal and mentioned in dispatches for his action in a now forgotten place named Kohima. Our force came in on the 22.4.45, they had been at sea for a month. Left Leyte 5th May with H.M.S. Illustrious and H.M.S. Wager to go to Manus (Admiralty Islands) and then on to Sydney. In Manus 8th May, heard the news V.E.Day and was very pleased for my family and Europe. There was no chance for any celebration anchored in this Pacific Island. Was so terribly pleased for everybody back home, they could sleep in bed at night without fear of being bombed. Six terrible years they had suffered. The officers could at least have a drink to celebrate, the lower deck was ignored, so that was the first Second World War victory we never celebrated. We still had a job to do although the Americans did not really need us in the Pacific. They had enough of everything in the Pacific to punish the Japanese and they were doing that. It was proving that in Burma as well because our forgotten 14th Army was defeating the Japanese also. Left Manus 9th May proceeding to Sydney, expect to arrive 14th May, which we did, and had one run ashore each watch. Left Sydney 16th on way to Melbourne, expect to arrive 17th. Bad weather slowed us down and had to proceed slowly thus arriving 18th May. The ship was to have a refit and Woloomolo Docks just outside Melbourne was chosen. Went on 13days leave May 23rd after ship was de-ammunitioned and de-oiled. The train ride into Melbourne was a happy ride because we were happy to get off the ship for a spell. Flinders Street Station and Melbourne, Sydney, Perth Freemantle have always remained very special to me because having already said I fell in love with Australia. Coming out of Flinders Street Station turning right over the bridge into the YMCA building and booking accommodation for our stay. Being used to the cramped conditions aboard a destroyer it never bothered us about the size of the small partitioned box that we were each allocated. Each box had a cot bed and space for a suitcase and a door we could shut for our privacy. It certainly was enough for us. Quite near the YMCA was a roller skating rink and also an ice skating rink. Found a caf茅 opposite the Flinders Street Railway Station to have morning breakfast. I am afraid that my letter writing suffered through this period spent in Melbourne. The letters from a certain young lady and myself since my last leave in England had developed a very romantic theme. The letters received from her were a great comfort to me I hoped mine were to her. It seemed that both of us were growing up through the writing of these letters and we considered that we were now, to use an old-fashioned word `sweethearts`. The stay in Melbourne, which lasted till 16th July, was ideal for leave. It returned to us a way of life that we had been deprived of for the last half dozen years. The streets lit at night, the food the sunny smiling faces everything connected with peace and not war. Australia was still at war with Japan. The time spent at the roller and ice-skating rinks, the steak egg and chip suppers. The law never allowed the pubs to stay open after 6pm. So it was the drinkers aim to purchase illicit drink. Going under the name of `plonk` it was soon found and purchased. It was smuggled into the YMCA and not being a drinker at that time I helped with the smuggling. The 6p.m.closing time made it a mad rush for the drinker just getting ashore on overnight leave. Leave started from the ship at 4p.m. You caught the train from Wolomoolo about 4.30pm. for the journey into Melbourne. To reach the pub and down as many pints as they could before 6p.m. was a challenge for them. It was not difficult for me because I did not enjoy beer at all. It helps me to recollect that previously while in Sydney visiting Bondi Beach relaxing after having a swim. A young man introducing himself as a reporter from a Sydney daily newspaper ask my opinion regarding the effect of the Australian brew on the British sailors. Not having an opinion to give him, said my friends to my knowledge seemed to enjoy it. The column in the newspaper next morning quoted how potent the Pomms found the brew according to Stoker 1st Class Stonebridge. Our thirteen-day leave was extended by a further seven days while the ship was having a refit in Melbourne. That suited me and the rest of the ship鈥檚 company. It was also with a feeling of guilt that I felt so happy about the 7 days extension. The reason being that I had met an Australian girl named Pearl. It was never my intention to try to be anything but friendly with the girls we met. In the skating rinks we spent the evenings with girls laughing and talking. In a Melbourne suburb today there are some women in the seventy and more age group with photographs taken with sailors from H.M.S. Whelp taken in 1945. We never even used to take them home. Things changed when a friend invited me to go to the cinema one evening and make a foursome. His girlfriend was fetching a girl who worked with her along. A popular meeting place then was the area in front of the Melbourne Town Hall. That was where we went and was where I first saw and met Pearl. It is rather difficult to recall the minutes and hours of something that happened 57 years ago when you were only twenty years of age. You recall where and when but the more intimate introductory feelings and the hours that followed are hard to remember. We went to the cinema; I can even remember the film we saw. It may be that the songs from the film help your memory more than the film itself. The film was Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. The evening was pleasant enough and we all boarded the big green tram to take the girls home. The tram was full, all leaving the centre of Melbourne after a night out. The journey was to a residential area a few miles out. I cannot remember the names of where we got off the tram or the road in which Pearl lived it is too long ago to remember. We said our ``goodnights`` to the other couple, crossed the main road and entered the street she lived in. Pearl I learned later came from the outback, which told me she was not a city girl. She was living and working in Melbourne. Living with this Aunt and Uncle who had a couple of young children. About fifty yards down the street she stopped and said this was where her aunt lived. We walked on a few yards and stood outside a small corner shop. I had enjoyed the evening and felt relaxed so it was quite easy to talk to this pleasant and pretty girl. Being brought up in a close knit family and having three older sisters, love and respect for females came naturally. Since the war had started when just entering my teens and all I had known was air raids and blackouts and air raid shelters time to meet and take girls out was virtually nil. The only real serious feelings for a girl after knowing her for a number of years started when I joined the Navy. It developed since leaving the U.K. and our letters to each other had become very romantic. It seems very strange that I should be saying this about Eileen and yet be writing about how nice this Australian girl was on our first meeting. The guilt I was feeling was because the letters from Eileen kept coming regularly full of information together with magazines since the ship had left the U.K. Our feelings for each other appeared to grow stronger with every letter received and answered. I continued to meet Pearl throughout my leave in Melbourne, our feelings towards each other had changed after that first meeting, and thoughts about the future may have been discussed. Her aunt with whom she lived with did not like me or to put bluntly did not like the British. She may have had her reasons and quite rudely told me that we should have been back in our own country and the Australian forces should be back home. The miserable lady did not know that the millions of servicemen all over the world wanted the same thing. When Pearl said her Mother was coming to stay for a few days it presented a problem. Would she be a miserable person like her sister? As it turned out she was a small pleasant lady unlike her sister and we got on very well the short time I was in her company. The other problem was that it was wonderful to be on leave but you had to have money to spend. I did not have much money. Our armed forces were badly paid and also from my pay I made an allowance to my Mother. That did not give me a chance to save too much. Being at sea for long spells and not going ashore helped save but being in Australia I wanted to get ashore every opportunity that presented itself. Also I was escorting Pearl so I paid for cinema seats and evening meals for two. It was difficult being short of cash, made easier by knowing the meal we would be having in our favourite eating-place and the total cost. It would be around a pound (twenty shillings) if having two pounds in my pocket for the evening, that would be sufficient for cinema, meal and tram fare to take Pearl home. Back in 1945 Australia was all English, currency, weights and measurements, not so now. It brings back a pleasant memory to think of the journey back into Melbourne after seeing Pearl home. Being a few miles out the only option you had when getting on to main road back into the city was to walk. It was dark, lonely, devoid of people or transport so you just walked. The really amazing thing or so it seemed to me was when you had just plodded along for about a mile or so you thought. Am I the only one awake and alive in Australia when in the distance out of the darkness you saw a green tram coming towards you? Walking in the middle of the road the driver easily spotted you and always stopped. You never had to pay and he was kind and helpful taking you back to the centre of Melbourne. The war was forgotten while the refit lasted and I went on seeing Pearl. I suppose we did make plans because sometime very soon the ship would have to leave. Going back to the war in the Pacific had seemed a very long way off the past few weeks. It is when you have a few days leave that you have time to stop and think about the things you have seen and done since joining the Royal Navy. Her name is remembered to me still, Pearl Flenley. Her face is forgotten. The photograph of herself which she gave me and which I kept until tearing it into pieces. The occasion being when returning home to Eileen and mentioning Pearl鈥檚 name, it seemed the only and right thing to do. She was a lovely girl and we both enjoyed each other鈥檚 company.

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