大象传媒

Below is my Grandfathers Service record from the war and an extract from a letter written by him to one of his grandsons.

Unfortunatley my grandfather passed away in 1987.

My grandfather was mobilised for War Service in the Royal Navy Volunteer (Wireless) Reserve on the 13th of July 1939. He served on the following Ships and Shore Establishments

HMS Victor 18th Jun 1939 to 1st Jul 1939
HMS Diomede Cruiser 31st Jul 1939 to 5th Feb 1940
HMS Drake Devonport 6th Feb 1940 to 10th Feb 1940
HMS Pyramus Kirkwall 11th Feb 1940 to 31st Dec 1940
HMS Northern Duke Trawler 1st Jan 1941 to 12th Feb 1942
HMS Drake 13th Feb 1942 to 27th Mar 1942
HMS Eaglet Base Ship Liverpool 28th Mar 1942 to 14th Sep 1942
HMS Drake 15th Sep 1942 to 25th Sep 1942
HMS Eaglet Corvette 26th Sep 1942 to 31st Oct 1942
HMS Cormorant 1st Nov 1943 to 10th Dec 1943
HMS Drake 11th Dec 1943 to 16th Mar 1944
HMS Pique Minesweeper 17th Mar 1944 to 28th Jul 1944
HMS Drake 29th Jul 1944 to 7th Apr 1945
HMS Royal Phillipa Germany 8th April 1945 to 31stAug 1945
HMS Drake 1st Sep 1945 to 10th Nov 1945
Discharged 10th Nov 1945

RATINGS HELD :

Telegraphist 31st Jul 1939 Acting Leading Telegraphist 1st Oct 1942

Leading Telegraphist 31stAug 1945

Mentioned in Dispatches

London Gazette 34893 11th Jul 1940
London Gazette 35399 1st Jan 1942

D-day itself was the quietist landing I took part in while Salerno (Italy 1943) was the worst. During the Salerno landing the blue Italian sky was blacked out by anti aircraft shells as German fighter-bombers came in to bomb us. Naples was really battered by the gunfire from our Navy ships and planes.

I started preparing for the Normandy landing about March 1944 on HMS Pique a fleet minesweeper built in Seattle in the U.S.A. in 1943. There were nine ships in our flotilla, (40th minesweeping flotilla). The lead ship was HMS Catherine followed by HMS Greacian and then HMS Pique.

We entered the Seine bay about 11pm on June 5th and we followed a set pattern on the extreme left of about 30 flotillas of minesweepers. We had 3 radar stations on the south coast of England. We christened them Christ and the two thieves. Where the radar beams crossed we laid a big Dan Buoy with its light shining back to England.

Then each minesweeping flotilla laid a lane of smaller buoys in towards the French beaches. Our flotilla was on the extreme left of all the minesweepers and we finished about one and half miles from the beach. The BYMS sweepers went right into the shore and then naval beach parties cleaned the actual beaches themselves.

All this activity went on from 11pm to 6:40am on the 6th of June. When the first batch of soldiers went ashore on Queens beach area Sword. At about 9:30am we were ordered to sweep the battleship Warspite into a position just west of Le Naroe.

There was a large German 12 inch giving the Pique and the incoming landing craft a lot of concern. The Warspite had run out of 15鈥� ammunition and the refilling of her big guns had failed. When she left for Portsmouth HMS Nelson came around. She had 16鈥� guns (9 all together). The Nelson also had a seaplane, which she sent away. The German gun fired once again and the shell landed between our ship and the Nelson. The seaplane must have spotted the gun as the Nelson fired one ranging shot. The German gun replied with another shot, then Nelson opened up with 3 of her 16鈥� guns and through the glasses I saw the whole of cliff face fall away. We had no more trouble from that gun after that.

The Captain of the Nelson was quite a comic. He said on the loud hailer. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you will be bothered anymore. Good luck and god bless, carry on your good work and thank you.鈥�
Then the Nelson attended by another two minesweepers went over to the Yanks in UTAH.

Out of the nine ships in our flotilla only two came through the landings without damage, HNS Catherine and HMS Greacian. Three were sunk (no casualties) and four were damaged three rather badly. All however managed to make it back to England. The Pique was damaged by a bomb that had been placed on her stern by a midget sub. This resulted in one of her two propellers being put out of action. The Pique went alongside HMS Maidstone in the Mulberry harbour. The Maidstone was a repair ship, but she couldn鈥檛 carry out a repair, as it was too big of a job. So we had to make it slowly back to Portsmouth on one propeller. This all occurred at the end of June 1944.

Well there鈥檚 a lot more I could tell you but there is not enough space in this letter....

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