大象传媒

I was born 29th July 1923 off Bolton Road, Pendlebury {Manchester}. I was 16 years old when the war broke out. I was working with the Germans at Magnesium Alloys as an apprentice welder. I was a hark welder. I was actually working with the Germans. They were building Magnesium Alloys. It was one of their plants, one of their patents. They were German Technicians. I didn鈥檛 have to go into the war or Navy because I was a reserve. Being an apprentice, they wanted to keep me there. However, I was in the home guard from 16-18 years old. Magnesium Alloy鈥檚 work was going all the time I was in the Navy, even though it was German. They interned the Germans. They had Swastikas on their arms when the war started in 1939 and they sent them back to Germany. There was a lot of Chlorine Gas on this plant. When I was in the Home Guard, I guarded this Chlorine around the firms and various parts. What we call the 鈥楧ad鈥檚 Army鈥�.

We were being dive bombed in Pendlebury and they dropped a land mine at the top of our street, Bridge Street. I used to lie in bed at night. My sister was ARP Warden and I was a Northern. My father died in 1946. He was a WW1 veteran and my eldest sister fostered me from being about 14. I joined the Royal Navy in 1942.

Just before I went to Magnesium Alloys, I was working in Mattys and Yates (a ventilation company). We had admiralty drawings in there, doing ventilation for submarines. It was called Cyclone. We knew that war was going to come at that time. I left the Cyclone, the ventilation company, to go to the Magnesium Alloy for further experience. I was working alongside these Germans on Chlorinators and Electrical Furnaces. And then war broke out. Mr. Chamberlain went over there negotiating. In turn, the Germans took their workers back {from the factory}. All the air raids were going off. They were bombing all Manchester, Pendlebury and Swinton. I got on very well with the Germans that I worked with. They were German technicians and it was their plant. They were building this plant. I was on the constructional side of it. But by then, they had sent all the Germans back to Germany. The M.E.L. took over after the Germans left. They build it for M.E.L. (Magnesium Electrum). They had plants in Germany that was similar and they were teaching us the know-how. Magnesium Alloys were lighter than steel and stronger than Aluminum and it all went into aircraft wheels. This is why we were on the Wallwork. Essential works of order. I could have been exempt from the war and stayed away from it.

I didn鈥檛 know what I was letting myself in for. All my friends were joining the Navy and the Army. My brother was in the Army; he was a couple of years older than me. He tried to get into the Navy but they failed him because of his ears. He was at Dunkirk. When he came from Dunkirk, he went in the 8th Army. We were all along in the Mediterranean at that time 鈥� I鈥檇 gone into the Navy then. Naturally, my brothers, some of his mates and I landed in the Italian landings. I was out there 7 days. Now, on this aircraft carrier, I was on the Accelerator, shoot the aircrafts off. Actually, there was no wind out and most of the fleet was far out at sea. We gave air cover for the 5th Army for 7 days.

We were heavily bombed in Manchester. I was working there. At night, I was with my sister when the air raids went off. I was very tired from doing Home Guards and things like that. I鈥檇 be in bed and my sister used to come in and shout, 鈥淐ome on Harry, the sirens are going off.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 coming down in a minute!鈥� Really, I was deadbeat. I thought, sod it if I get killed, I get killed. There was such a big clash and they dropped a bomb right between 3 or 4 doors up. The attack guns (they used to put patrol around Swinton, Pendlebury) used to come right under the window. We could hear the German planes coming over 鈥渂ang, bang鈥�. They dropped a landmine because they were after M.E.L. (Magnesium Alloys). In WW1 they tried to get the Chloride (the battery) that was next door. They drained the canal at the back so the Germans that had worked there couldn鈥檛 find it into Clifton junction, where it was. They were after the Mag鈥� because it was one of the plants they had built. This is what it was all about. They missed it and must have picked the lights up at the headgear at the Collieries. They must have thought I was Mag鈥� and they let the bombs go. Instead of hitting the Mag鈥�, they hit not far from where I lived, about 3 or 4 doors up. This big land mine at the top of Bridge Street, it weren鈥檛 far away. It had a big hole there. There were lots of young women having a birthday party at that time at the house. They were all killed. When I got up to investigate, I went to the top of the street and there were all dead underneath. We used to go in the Bury Town Hall underneath. That鈥檚 where I dived. I went in to there while the all clear went. That鈥檚 before I went into the Royal Navy. There were a lot of people killed in that raid.

In Gladstone Street, where my sister had a little shop, a man came in that night for some cigarettes just before the air raid started. He said he was going back under the stairs with his kids. When I got up and went to investigate, they were all buried and the firemen tried to put the fire out. I could hear them underneath. The next morning, when they took them out they were all burnt. The air raids were horrible. The Bridge Street air raid was on a Sunday night at end of 1941 or start of 1942.

[Was that the worse raid?] The worse raid was all over Manchester. I used to go up to my brothers at Kersley on the hill. Will and Joyce they were called. I was there one night on my bicycle and Lord 鈥楬aw Haw鈥� came on saying, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to bomb Manchester.鈥� The air raids went on while I was up there. He said you鈥檇 better not go yet. I was only about 16 or 17. We stood on the hill at Kersley and we could see all Manchester burning from the hill, right down. It鈥檚 high up there. When the all clear went I thought I would go home on my bike and I came down Bolton Road and I started hitting big paving stones. They鈥檇 actually dropped bombs on Bridge Street then when the land mine went (I was hitting the bricks). Just before that, my sister used to come dashing down and say that the air raids were on, to get off. I was only young and I was working there.

In the Home Guard, we had to do guards around Swinton, then where the Magnesium Alloy factory was. There were various places where we had to go on guard. Germans would be coming over bombing all over. During the Home Guard, we practiced a lot with the Sten gun at the Longley high field and the Canadian Moss. We used to go shooting at the weekends. We practiced with 3 bullets and a Sten gun. We were working up to defend the country. I thought I might as well be amongst it properly. I had this Khaki uniform and I thought that I wasn鈥檛 joining the Army anyway; I鈥檒l join the Royal Navy. I went down to Dover Street to join the Royal Navy. I was about 17陆 then. I told my colleague Lindsey Little I was going (He was a fully pledged plated, a borner maker). He told me not to tell the boss (engineer) because I wouldn鈥檛 get in. He had also tried but he was reserve, like I should have been. I got my calling up papers for my medical and I passed A1 for Navy. I got my papers to go. A week before I went, he said to take them to the Engineer, Mr. Don Tate (engineer for the whole workshop, fabrication shop). I told Mr. Tate that I wanted to leave tonight. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 leave here! You鈥檙e under essential works orders. Go back on your job.鈥� When I gave him the papers he told me to go to the Labour Manager (big labour office where they took labour). The Engineer phoned the Manager, telling him I was coming. He didn鈥檛 want to loose me or any trades men, apprentices etc. The Labour Manager asked me if I wanted to go in the Royal Navy. I said I might as well be in the Navy than doing guards here, there and everywhere. I wanted to go, all my mates were doing it. I didn鈥檛 know what I was letting myself in for. He said that if I didn鈥檛 want to go, they had preference on me and he could stop it. I said no thank you, I wanted to fight for my country. He phoned Mr. Tate back and told him that he had to let me go, I was determined, I wanted to go where I wanted to go. That was the end of Magnesium Alloys for me.

I went down to HMS Drake in Great Malvour. They were bombing all the way down there, in the Midlands. They were bombing around Birmingham. I did my training there. I did a course in Naval Landing. Going through my drill, gaggers on, hobnail boots, Naval Uniform, dashing over manvil nails, diving down and throwing, rowing and all this. It was like an assault course. I thought it was great. We were like Marines. We did about 16 weeks of that and then down to Plymouth, Devon Port. I got in to Devon Port and that night the bombers came over and bombed Union Street 鈥� the same street in Plymouth that I lived in. They also dropped bombs on the Peels and Wrens Establishments. We were in the air raid shelter down in to Plymouth. It was like they actually followed me down there! I thought, 鈥榯his is it鈥�. When we were there, we used to get these hammocks. A bloke alongside me committed suicide (hung himself). I joined as a 2nd Class stoker. He was a stoker too.

I was in the barracks with Arthur Wilde, my mate from Pendlebury (big blonde bloke). He was down at the same time. I said, 鈥淚鈥檝e got a draft sheet. I鈥檓 going to sea tomorrow.鈥� I said that it was great and I鈥檇 probably see him again. At that time, the Teatist {submarine} was in. She sank in 1938 with all hands on. 89 sailors died. They had brought her up and she was refitted and I was maintenance on her, being a welder. They were still bombing Plymouth. There was a broken part of the Teatist. We marched down the basins and I was in this submarine. It used to really go dark at night, about 3 o鈥檆lock, 4.30. There were about 6 of us volunteered for these submarines. We鈥檙e down in the barrels of the ship. Two of the lads got out because there were a lot of ghosts down there. They were tapping on a shelf when She sank during 1938 in the trials to let the admiralty know they were still there and alive. They cut a hole into her when she sank. She hit a sand bank and the tubes had flooded. She鈥檇 tried to back off and she couldn鈥檛. She was nose down and they could have cut a hole in the outer end. I could have aired out of her, being in my trade. I could have put a hole in and put airlines into her. It was the battery fumes that had killed them all. You know that when a battery gets exhausted it gives off loads of fumes. Most of them suffocated. There was even blokes on from the Chloride. She hadn鈥檛 been turned over by the admiralty. They said there was no way must you do this or do any of the damage to the submarine at that time. But they could have done.

We were doing a course in maintenance (C and N party). There were only 4 people got out. One of them was training me up on the Ventura鈥檚 and Atomisers. We were doing all the Atomisers up on the diesels. In the meantime, I was still in the Barracks and Arthur was supposed to go to sea. I saw him the next morning. He said that he was on survivors leave. This frigate that he鈥檇 gone out on had just got outside the bay and was torpedoed. He was on the upper deck with the Ky, with the coco. He was just up there, of course he would have gone down with her but he actually gone up for middle watch for the Ky. He was on the upper deck when it went down. A lot of them drowned. He went home on survivors leave. The next time that I saw him was on Scapper Flow. He joined the Renell. I used to go onshore on the Scapper, in the canteen and there was Arthur on the big Renell.

They wanted people on aircraft carriers. I鈥檇 got up one morning and I got this draft ship. They didn鈥檛 tell us where we were going, all the way to Belfast and Plymouth, all the way up. It took us a few days to get up there. We went across, sounds by alarm, that was the crossing. Most of the lads that I was with were seasick. It was rough across the Irish Sea. We got into Belfast dock area and we had kit bags and everything. We were all for it {enthusiastic}. It was dark. We were carrying our gear along. I could hear the turbines going. We looked up behind us and there was a big aircraft carrier behind us, carrying the fleet (like the Arch Royal). They had 2 hangers on top of them. When they looked up, their hats fell off at the back. I thought 鈥榣ook at this, this is great鈥�. And I joined the Unicorn and we did our trials all around Scotland. The try-gummery trials, all the sea-going trials, the Nortical Mile, the speed trial. We had loads of defects, such as a port shaft that was on fire and I was watching it. I was plumber block and watch keeping. On the high-speed trials, it was getting mad hot. They put the hosepipes on it to cool it. We had to go into dock into Belfast again. They rectified it 鈥� they moved the plumber blocks over. This is what I observed. It was getting hot and the dock yardarms did their best. I did a lot of welding at sea. When we were on the Atlantic going to Russia, I鈥檝e got a couple of medals, a Russian medal.

When we were on the Convoys, all the way up. We set sail at the beginning of 1943 (January or February) by the time we had done all the trials. Immediately after the gunner trials and everything, after the Arch Royal had gone down the Bay of Biscay. We started doing the Norway Sweets, with the Renown. The Rodney and The Nelson (battleships). We used to take them out, up to Norway. All by the Norway coast, the Vamaleaves and the Renown. They used to be pumping shells into the coastline of Normandy. We were their escort, their aircraft carrier.

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