大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Shropshire Libraries on behalf of Frank Napper and has been added with his permission. Mr. Napper fully understands the site鈥檚 Terms and conditions.

At the start of the war in 1939, my father volunteered for the Navy before conscription was introduced. He caught the train to Portsmouth where he signed on. As a volunteer he had to do six years service and five for the reserves; his number was P/SKX 276. He was then sent for engine room training at Portsmouth Naval Base, which took quite a long time. From there he travelled to Loch Fyne, Inverary, Scotland, for Combined Operations training in landing craft on two converted rail ferries called 鈥業ris鈥� and 鈥楧affodil鈥�, which had been requisitioned and converted to hauling landing craft up from the stern. (He trained on the 鈥業ris鈥�). As well as training, he and others were sent to collect LCAs (Landing Craft Assault vehicles) from North Shields and take them up the north-east coast to Leith and on to the Forth and Clyde Canal across Scotland to Greenock. On one trip they stopped over at Berwick and, having tied up at the dock, were supposed to keep watch on the tide to slacken off the ropes. Instead, they chose to go to the pub; the tide went out and left the LCA high and dry, so that they had to wait for the next high tide to refloat it. My father was put on open arrest, but got away with it even though one man was so drunk he fell into the water and drowned. One of the crew members who should have been accompanying them had a problem with seasickness, so he caught the train back instead! Whilst they were at Inverary, the local sailors would often spice up their diets with geese borrowed from the local landlord, the Duke of Argyle. After the completion of this training, my father then joined his first ship, 鈥楾he Duchess of Bedford鈥�, at Greenock. This passenger liner had been requisitioned from Canadian Pacific for use as a troop carrier and sailed with British troops, via The Cape and The Suez Canal, to join the Sicily invasion (Operation Husky) on 13th July 1943. He was part of the crew of an LCA which ferried troops to the beach. After the area was made safe, he was given shore leave. Finding lemons growing and being due to get married, he picked some to take back home, where they would be needed to make white icing. The ship then left Sicily and on its way back to the UK stopped off in North Africa to pick up German prisoners of war. She went on to pick up American soldiers and took them to the Salerno invasion in Italy (Operation Avalanche), which took place on 9th September. After that, he returned to the UK where, that November, he was given a week鈥檚 leave in which to get married.

On returning to duty, he joined Operation Neptune, which was the build-up to D-Day, and was assigned to a ship called 鈥楨mpire Arquebus鈥�. (She was an 鈥淓mpire ship鈥� which had been purchased by the British Government from America and could carry 1,300 troops and 18 landing craft). He was at this time a leading stoker. In the same convoy were 鈥楨mpire Crossbow鈥� and 鈥楽pearhead鈥�. They were berthed in area 5, force G at Newtown Bay in the Solent, between Cowes and Yarmouth. Nearby were H.M.S. Glenroy, a troopship, and H.M.S. Kingsmill, a frigate. The 鈥楢rquebus鈥� went across as part of assault convoy G9B, 524 flotilla which disembarked her troops on Gold Beach on 6th June 1944. The officers in command of this flotilla were Lt. Ferguson and Sub Lt. Murray from the Royal Naval Reserve, better known to the sailors as 鈥楾he Wave Navy鈥�. He was in charge of the engines of an LCA powered by two Ford V8s with self-sealing petrol tanks. Among the troops he took to the beaches were members of The Durham Light Infantry who were given rum in stone bottles covered with straw to give them Dutch courage. He and three other members of the LCA crew would help them out with the rum. One sailor was told on the ship that because he was so young, he didn鈥檛 have to go, but he insisted. When the LCA had nearly reached the shore, this young sailor stood up to see what was going on and was shot dead by the enemy. In their eagerness to get to the shore, some of the men jumped off into deeper water and, weighed down by their clothing and equipment, drowned. On one of the trips to the beach, the LCA got stuck and could not return to the ship until the next high tide; while he waited, my father wandered around in a slightly inebriated state, being shot at. When the tide had gone down, they discovered below the high tide level stakes in the sand with mines attached to them. Known as 鈥淩ommel鈥檚 Asparagus鈥�, these would blow the bottoms out of the landing craft. When some of the enemy had been captured, they were made to remove the offending items. Also on board the 鈥楢rquebus鈥� was the beachmaster.

After D-Day, my father took and passed an exam for Petty Officer and was put on the waiting list for a position at this rank. He was then drafted to a destroyer, H.M.S. Tuscan, as a leading stoker. They sailed from England to the Mediterranean where, at Valletta in Malta, H.M.S. Tuscan joined other ships. The ship鈥檚 captain was Lt. Commander Lewis, nicknamed 鈥楬ard over Lewis鈥� because of the tight turns he often made, which resulted in a soaking for the engine room. They all left Malta on 23rd May 1945 for Alexandria and the Suez Canal and on to Sydney, Australia in preparation for the Japanese invasion. My father had two weeks leave in Melbourne where he lodged with a local family. He and his colleagues took part in lots of exercises around Australia in the build up and during these, the galley of H.M.S. Tuscan caught fire and ignited the oil for the engines, which ran under the galley floor. My father went down to the engine room and switched off the pump that was pumping it through. For this act he was commended in despatches. On 15th August 1945 (VJ Day) H.M.S. Vengeance sailed from Australia, together with H.M.S. Indomitable, H.M.S. Colossus and H.M.S. Venerable. Behind them were cruisers H.M.S. Bermuda and H.M.S. Swiftsure, destroyers H.M.S. Quadrant, H.M.S. Tuscan, H.M.S. Tyrian, H.M.S. Ursa, H.M.S. Kempenfelt and H.M.S. Whirlwind. It was while the convoy was on its way to Japan that the Atomic Bombs were dropped. Much to the relief of the ships鈥� crews, they were told that the invasion was off. My father can remember it all vividly. After Japan surrendered, 鈥楾uscan鈥� made its way to China and up the Yangtze River to show the flag. Chinese boats would come alongside and, for a bar of soap, their crews would do our sailors鈥� washing.

When he returned to England, he returned to barracks, before being drafted on to H.M.S. Bamborough Castle, based in Plymouth, for fisheries protection in the English Channel around Devon and Cornwall. When they caught French fishing vessels in protected waters they would confiscate their nets and catch and escort them to the mainland where they would be fined. He and the rest of the crew dined well on the confiscated catches, filling the ship鈥檚 baths with water to put the catch in to keep it fresh. Shortly after this, his period of service was up and he was demobbed. He received a 拢99 gratuity, which was subsequently spent on furniture.

Later, as he was still on reserve, he was called up for the Korean War, but due to commitments at home, was released from duty.

I think my father had already done enough for his country and am proud of what he did. And I am grateful to his generation for fighting a terrible war and for sparing me from having to do the same

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