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This story was told to Christine Barker at the VE Celebrations in Beverley in 2005
Beverley by Elizabeth Atkinson (nee McLean)

My brother, George Metheringham was only little, really little in the war but he wanted to go into the Navy — he used to go down to the billeting office every week, I think it was under the fifty shilling tailors, to try and convince them he was old enough to join up. Every week they threw him out saying no we’ve got nothing for you, and then they sent him home.
Eventually one day he went and they told him we’ve got something for you — they were sick of seeing him down there. So he asked what it was and they said ‘assistant cook’ he said ‘I’ll have it’ but when he did get in the navy he went right through the ranks to the top. He quickly became a stoker on HMS Emerald. He’d be less than 15 when he started, which was the right age to join though.

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