大象传媒

Coder Arthur James Simmons Royal Navy
Home village: Melton.Woodbridge.Suffolk.

At the outbreak of war I was employed in Gall鈥檚 (later to become Boots) chemist shop doing general shop duties. The shop was in Woodbridge and I was sixteen years of age. I lived with my parents at Melton, with my younger sister Elsie and two older brothers. Charlie was a regular in the Royal Navy and George the eldest was a nurse at St.Audreys Hospital before joining the RAF. All three brothers survived the war, but Charlie had the most difficult war as the ships he served on saw a great deal of action in the Mediterranean. I volunteered for the Royal Navy in July 1941.

The first two years of the war I worked locally, and when the Home Guard was formed from the Local Defence Volunteers I joined straight away, doing arms drill and marching at the Woodbridge Drill Hall. Exercises were carried out locally and live rounds were fired at a nearby firing range at Bromswell. The rifle was a Lee Enfield .303. Captain Tiler a local farmer was in charge of the unit.

I can remember during what is now called the Battle of Britain German aircraft bombing the nearby RAF Station at Martlesham. This I viewed from the yard at the back of the chemists. Another clear memory was on one Sunday morning hearing the sound of aircraft and shooting. I went to my bedroom window and saw a Messerschmitt 109 shoot down a Hawker Hurricane. The pilot of the damaged Hurricane left his aircraft and the parachute opened. I later found out that the pilot was a Count Czernin and he had landed safely at Ufford, whilst the Hurricane crashed at Bredfield. I had been told his wife lived on a house boat berthed in the dock at Woodbridge and sometimes Count Czernin flew his Hurricane up the river sweeping past the house boat.

I left Gall鈥檚 to work on the construction of a new RAF base at Parham which was later used by the American Army Air Force. The money was a great deal more than the wages at the chemist.

In the summer of 1942 I was called up by the Royal Navy and was sent to Portsmouth to be trained as a Medical Orderly at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar. During my time there a local barracks was bombed and casualties were brought to the hospital. I decided a change in duty was necessary and volunteered for a transfer to WT. I had leave before being posted to Leigh (Lancashire) for WT training which covered signals, coding de-coding and operating a wireless. This I did for 3 months and after completing my training was posted back to Portsmouth to wait for my draft (posting to a ship).

My draft came through early in 1944 and I travelled on my own by train, with a kit bag and hammock, to Glasgow. On arrival at Glasgow station I was met by the RPO (Regulating Petty Officer) who directed me to my accommodation as there were no trains going to Greenock because of snow. The following day I boarded the train at Glasgow for Greenock. At Greenock an attractive wren driving a canvas covered truck asked me where I was drafted. I said HMS Rhododendron. She drove me to the docks where I boarded my first ship, a flower class corvette number K78. I had one week on board to get to know the ship, my duties and shipmates before we sailed. It was to be on a convoy to Russia but we only got as far as Iceland where engine problems forced us to call into port for repairs. Temporary repairs were carried out in Iceland and we returned to Greenock for the repair to be made permanent.
While the repairs were being carried out one could have local shore leave day or night depending on your duties and watch.
From February to March HMS Rhododendron was on Artic Convoy duties and then sailed to Milford Haven to take part in the invasion of Normandy (D day).
For six weeks from the second day of the invasion we escorted merchant ships from Milford Haven to the Normandy beach head. I recollect on one convoy being landside of the battleships and hearing the sound of the large shells from HMS Warspite going overhead on to targets inland. In August we returned to the Clyde and the ship ran aground necessitating repairs. After the repairs there was the standard workup and the ship during October was attached to the 8 Escort Group Greenock. Further Convoys were escorted in November and December.
January 1945 brought a New Year and HMS Rhododendron sailed from the Clyde to take part in more Artic Convoys right through until May. After one convoy in March, we had to go out from Murmansk about 60 miles to pick up a merchant ship (straggler) that developed engine trouble; we missed her in the dark then got a radar contact like a submarine. The search light lit up and the 4鈥� gun fired almost at the same time. Fortunately no damage was done as the contact was a Russian fishing boat that was drifting out of control with engine failure. We brought the boat alongside and a family came aboard. The children were frightened, so we looked after them, made sandwiches and mugs of cocoa from grated chocolate which they thoroughly enjoyed. We signalled the Polynarno (signal station) and docked. The Russian officials came on board and enjoyed a few drinks in the wardroom before thanking us and returned to Murmansk with a relieved and happy family.
There was not a great deal to do ashore at Murmansk except some skating and sledging. We did go aboard one of our escort carriers and saw a film starring Frank Sinatra. Also to one side of the hanger were Swordfish and Wildcat aircraft. We enjoyed the film; it made a change from cards and bingo.
Whilst returning to Greenock on the 8th May, we were told the war in Europe was over. Only a few days earlier two U-Boats were sunk and we lost a frigate (HMS Goodall).
The good news that the war in Europe was over, brought a combination of mixed emotions from joy to relief. It was my last convey and in the evening three of us went into Greenock for a celebration.

The weather on the Artic Convoys to Murmansk (Russia) was at times extreme and the Germans would attack the convoys with U-Boats and aircraft. All the crew were involved during Action Stations and when under aircraft attack I helped pass ammunition from below to the guns on deck. When attacking submarines I would help set the depth charges and fired the charges as instructed. I remember in the morning being told when the convoy had lost ships. All this were going on and you just carried on doing your duty, the ship had her place in the convey and you got on with the job. The Invasion of Normandy was an eye opener, the number of ships and manpower was impressive and one did truly believe that the war was going our way.

My war did not end on the 8th May in Greenock, I was one of three crew members who went on indefinite leave and I returned home to Suffolk. A skeleton crew sailed HMS Rhododendron to Milford Haven. After leave, I returned to Barracks at Portsmouth where I received a new draft to HMS Holm Sound a new converted Liberty ship being commissioned on Tyneside for the Pacific war (Japan) war. The ship was due to carry aircraft parts for the Pacific Fleet.

By luck one of the crew was my school friend John Baker who lived across the road from me in Melton. He had worked in the aircraft industry and was called up later in the war and served in the Fleet Air Arm. The crew went by train to South Shields and boarded the ship. The war in Japan ended in August and HMS Holm Sound sailed in the autumn of 1945. The ship called at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden, Bombay, Cochin (India), Ceylon, Cocas Islands and then on to Australia (Fremantle). The return trip to the UK was by a similar route and the ship docked at Portsmouth in May 1946. My war was over; I was demobbed and returned home to Suffolk and back to civilian life.

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