大象传媒

! Usually though it was me who steered to ship in and out of harbour and took spells at the wheel in bad weather because the ship had no coxwain. The Skipper was an RNVR officer, a two and a half ringer. A Scot who was from the Merchant Marine. He was alright most of the time but when he had had a drink he could be awful! We had a ship鈥檚 dog, one that had wandered aboard and just stayed. It did have a use though, because when we were in harbour and I was on guard duty it would stay with me and when the Skipper who had been out drinking came back the dog would know he was coming from way off. This gave me time to warn the Skipper鈥檚 steward that he was about to appear. Because the one thing the Skipper always said as he came aboard was 鈥淲here鈥檚 my steward?鈥� One night we were detailed to escort a convoy from Taranto across to Scicily. We had a beam sea that night and the ship was rolling like a top. I was steering at the time and the Skipper called down to me and said 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the matter Quartermaster can鈥檛 you steer her? Because if not I鈥檒l come down and do it.鈥� I just replied that in a beam sea she took some holding. So next thing is he comes down and has a go. But he couldn鈥檛 steer her any better than me! Eventually he gave up and said 鈥淲ell do the best you can Quartermaster鈥� and off he went. He knew he was beaten! After that he was alright with me and from then on we got along okay. In fact he then made me up to a Leading Seaman, though he did say to me that it was a temporary post and would only last until someone took it off me. In fact, I kept the rank until just before the end of the war when someone realised it wasn鈥檛 what was called a substantive rank.
Then my three years of overseas service were completed and I was ordered back to Britain. I left the ship at Bari, travelled overland to Taranto and caught a ferry to Malta. When I reached Malta they said I would have to wait a fortnight for a ship and it was while waiting that I caught sand fly fever and ended up in hospital. During the second week in hospital I asked about the draft ship and they said it was due to sail in about four days time. I was determined not to miss it! So I said 鈥淲ell that鈥檚 when I鈥檓 out of here!鈥� and I was. I boarded the draft ship which was The Queen of Bermuda
I had made it on time! So I was able to come home to Liverpool via Gibraltar. When I landed in Liverpool I rang Gwen to say I was back. Then it was straight down to Portsmouth to stow my gear before going on foreign service leave. Which lasted about a month during which time the invasion of Europe began with D Day. In fact we were at aunty Cog鈥檚 on the 6th June 1944 when it all began.

When my leave ended it was back to Portsmouth to pick up another draft for a ship. This time it was HMS Thornborough an American built destroyer of all welded construction that had only taken eight weeks to build.
When I arrived it was then that they noticed that I was still an acting Leading Seaman and
So they told me I would have to go back to being an AB. But they still made me chief quartermaster. From the THORNBOROUGH I went back down to Portsmouth Barracks and it was while I was based there that I married Gwen. The wedding was on 28th October 1944 and I had to apply for leave. I went to see the Master at Arms, known in the navy as a 鈥淐rusher鈥� because they could crush anyones hopes! The Master at Arms asked me how long I had known Gwen and I told him all the while during the war. So he ended up giving me a 72 hour pass instead of a 48 hour one. I was relieved and pleased!
The reason I was amazed he could be so kind? Because not long before a whole group of us arrived back late due to railway delays and despite having a chit from the station master explaining that we were late through no fault of ours the 鈥淐rusher鈥� still inflicted five days loss of privileges on us all! Work continued and we did a few Channel patrols though by now the war in Europe was drawing to a close. Then one day we were detailed off to go down to Fowey and provide escort to some army landing craft. We escorted them over to the Channel Islands and we were the ones who liberated the Islands. On May 9th 1945. When we first arrived off St Hellier we trained our guns onto the fortifications but white flags were soon hung out and we all went into the harbour. Then we took food parcels ashore and handed them out. Everyone had been starving, even at the end the German soldiers. The people were so pleased to see us and invited us into their homes. They told us how it had been and how they had listened secretly to the 大象传媒 news every night. I think of all the things I did during the war I am proudest of having been part of that action.
Unfortunately as the HMS Thornborough maneuvered out of the harbour she hit an underwater obstacle and damaged one of her twin screws. We limped back to Plymouth but the damage was too great for them to repair and we were sent up to Hartlepool for a major repair. When we arrived the ship鈥檚 company were paid off and only a skeleton crew remained aboard. I was one of them! So I sent for Gwen and she came all the way on her own to spend a weekend in Hartlepool with me. Eventually after repair the ship was handed over to the Americans and I left her to go back down to Portsmouth. When I got down there they immediately sent me to Rossyth to join an aircraft carrier! The carrier was one of the type known by us as Woolworth carrier, probably because they were cheap! They were American built and were freighters with a flight deck welded on the top. This one was HMS Ravager.
The rumour was that she was about to go out to the far east and I wasn鈥檛 too happy about that having just done all that time abroad. Anyway I joined her and we spent a lot of time providing pilots with practice at deck landings. Some of them were not too good and soon the hangars were full of damaged aircraft! Luckily no pilots as far as I know were killed in the time I was with her. When I first joined her I went aboard and the lad I saw said 鈥淥h your in this group
And they go on leave next week鈥� So I was back on leave! When that leave finished about four of us came back quite late, we had been delayed on the railway, it was about four or five in the morning when we got to bed and we were exhausted. Then about five minutes later we were all awake again as the ship was filled with noise. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on?鈥� we asked and we were told that the Japanese and surrendered! The war was over! It was August 14th 1945. Well, we joined in the party! Soon after that I got orders for my demob. I left the ship early one morning, around five o鈥檆lock as the ship was due to go to sea that day. I went to the canteen ashore for breakfast. The girl at the counter said 鈥淎re you finishing?鈥� and I said 鈥淵es, I鈥檝e just done five years鈥� When the girl heard that she gave me a great big breakfast and refused payment. Then I reported to the Redcar barracks in Edinburgh and was given my demob suit. I remember it was brown and it had a brown trilby to go with it. I went to Waverley station and caught a train to Warrington. When I got there it was getting late on in evening and there were no buses. I was standing in my demob suit with my case, hammock and kitbag when a taxi driver came up and said 鈥淗ave you just finished Jack?鈥� and I said 鈥淵es, just this morning.鈥� He asked me where I was going to and I said Winnington. 鈥淚鈥檒l take you.鈥� He said and though it was beyond where he was supposed to drive but he said he wanted to do a serviceman a favour. So took me all the way and when we got home he wouldn鈥檛 take any money but Gwen gave him a cup of tea. And that鈥檚 how my war came to an end.

I had set out in 1940 and had returned five years and thousands of miles later. I left as a twenty year old boy who had never been further in his life than Stoke on Trent and came back a man who had been halfway round the world.

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