大象传媒

As Ron approached his eighteenth birthday in 1941, he knew that he would have to make up his mind about the kind of job he wanted to do, while the war lasted. The work he was doing with the Forestry Commission in Hampshire, on their plantation at Parnholt Wood, was called a Reserved Occupation under the Direction of Labour Act. He knew that if he continued in that job he could avoid military service, if he wished to. At the same time it might mean that if he was still in that job when he reached eighteen, he would be made to continue with it.

It was only by the circumstances of an illness that Ron was in Hampshire at this time, being born a Londoner and living at Enfield, one of the city鈥檚 northern suburbs. His aunt and uncle lived in Kings Somborne, and that is where he came to convalesce and later to start to work, in the village and at Parnholt.

Some years before he had enrolled in the Air Defence Corps Commission (ADCC), a predecessor of the Air Training Corps, and by the time he was 15 he had the rank of corporal. So with that background, early in 1941 he went for an interview to the Southampton RAF Recruiting Office, with the idea of volunteering for the service. After attending a selection board there and another at Oxford, he returned to Southampton to find he had been offered training as a gunner. But as the grade did not definitely include an aircrew post he decided against it and went instead next door, into the Navy Recruiting Office - and joined the Fleet Air Arm.

Posted to Skegness for six weeks of square-bashing and basic training he then came back to Hampshire, to Gosport and HMS St Vincent. There, as well as the obligatory climb up the parade ground鈥檚 enormous mast (鈥済ulping a bit, and hanging on tight as I neared the top鈥�) he started four months of training as an air-gunner.

However, the aircrew training brought with it other disciplines he did not feel ready for; things like navigation, morse code work, and so on. About halfway through the course he applied for and got a posting to HMS Gosling, at Warrington, Cheshire. There he successfully completed an aircraft armourer鈥檚 course.

Anyone who has had anything to do with service life knows that it is advisable to stop looking like a 鈥榬ookie鈥�, as soon as possible. This way one avoids unnecessary jibes and unwelcome advice, like -鈥済et some service in鈥�, or - 鈥渋s the ink on your paybook dry?鈥�, and similar pleasantries. Now this was becoming a matter of urgency from Ron鈥檚 point of view, long before he got his armourer鈥檚 badge. In the Royal Navy a way to achieve this was to make some adjustments to one鈥檚 uniform. The picture of Ron gives some hints how this can be done.

First, the light blue of the collar has to be made lighter (with bleach), to give the impression of exposure to many suns. Then the seam at the front of the collar is 鈥榚ased鈥� down a little, to show more of the manly vest, with the bow on the black riband dropped to suit. The final touch is to bring the bow on the cap, from the side more towards the front! There are also ways to enhance the bell at the bottom of the trouser leg. The whole object of the exercise was to achieve a 鈥榯iddly鈥� style of dress. Ron managed all this in fairly short order, but:-

鈥淥ne day, me and my mate, feeling pretty sharp in our tiddly 鈥榥umber-ones鈥�, were about to go ashore. That is we were about to leave the barracks on an evening鈥檚 pass, when we caught the eye of a petty officer. He was one of those who looked as though he had been in the service for about 50 years, and he stopped us, looked us up and down and said 鈥渟tand over there鈥�. Meanwhile all the other ratings with a liberty ticket got out of the gate, and we could hear the crashing of their boots as they raced past the barrack wall, down to catch the bus to town. So, he kept us until he knew we had missed the bus, told us what he thought of our uniforms and promised trouble if he saw us like it again.

鈥淥nce I had got my badge up as a trained armourer I had a number of shore postings: cleaning and repairing aircraft guns, and 鈥榟armonising鈥� their accuracy and that sort of thing. These were to the RAF at Preston; Fleet Air Arm, at Lee-on-Solent and 880 Squadron in Northern Ireland. I had been doing this for a while when a chance came up for another posting. Volunteers were being called for and although I didn鈥檛 know what it was for, I said I鈥檇 go. It turned out to be the Naval Air Station at Kirkwall, Scapa Flow and shortly after arriving there I got my first posting afloat.

鈥淚t was on HMS Furious, a World War I ship which had started out as a cruiser and then been converted into an aircraft carrier. With a group of other ships, which included a battleship, we patrolled the Norwegian coast, attacking German craft where we found them, but our main target was their battleship, the Tirpitz.鈥�

Right from the start of the war the Tirpitz had been a problem and a target for the RAF. Even before it was commissioned attempts had been made on it in 1940 and 1941, in Wilhelmshaven, the Kiel dockyards and the Baltic Sea. By the time it was ready for service in1942 its potential raiding partner of north Atlantic shipping, the Bismark, had been sunk and Russia and America were in the war. Unwilling to hazard their last battleship of that size in open conflict with Allied naval forces, the German navy and Hitler put it to even better use by stationing it in Norwegian fiords. From there it was to threaten vital convoys to Russia and tie-up ships of the Allied navies urgently needed in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Like a move in chess, its mere presence had worldwide affect, and caused dissension among the Allies鈥� leaders.

鈥淭he Fleet Air Arm had last had a go at Tirpitz in 1942 and the RAF had been trying since, but in April 1944 a 鈥榖uzz鈥� went round the ship that it was the Navy鈥檚 turn again. By this time she had been moved to another berth, at North Cape, right up on the north coast of Norway.

鈥淥n HMS Furious we had two squadrons of the Barracuda, single engine dive bombers, and two of Seafire fighters. Which was the Navy鈥檚 version of the Spitfire. There were other carriers of course, and escort vessels. More than 120 aircraft altogether went on the raid. I remember 鈥榖ombing-up鈥� the Baracudas with 1600lb bombs, and with torpedoes.

鈥淲e did that three times in all, and a fourth strike was planned but was cancelled because of bad weather. There was always a great difficulty with the weather in trying to get at that ship, tucked away among the fiords. Two of the raids did quite a bit of damage to her and she was out of action for some months, but the Barracudas were not fast enough to get to the Tirpitz before the Germans had warning, and put up a smoke screen. The bombs weren鈥檛 heavy enough either, and it was a raid by Lancasters with special 12,000lb bombs which finally capsized her, in November. By that time I had transferred to a new carrier which had just joined the fleet. It was the Implacable, and we had a part in the final action, by sending over reconnaissance Firefly aircraft which photographed her for the RAF.鈥�

The removal of Tirpitz allowed the reshuffling of naval units and Ron was soon off to the Far East.

鈥淚 remember very clearly the voyage which was to take us out east to fight in the Pacific. About the time we got into the Med. I began to feel poorly, with stomach pains; which my mates said were most likely due to overeating! The sick-bay attendant wasn鈥檛 over sympathetic either, each time I called in. But when his pain-killer pills stopped having any effect the surgeon had a look at me and decided it was a case of appendicitis. By the time I was got ready and on the operating table the ship had run into rough weather and as it hit a particularly heavy sea everything in the sick bay started to shake; the ops-table shook; I shook and so did the knife in the surgeon鈥檚 hand. He decided it would not be a good idea to go on.

鈥淪o I had to stay with it, until we reached Australia. In fact we called into the naval base at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka - or Ceylon as it was known then - before going on to Sydney. I had my operation there and started convalescence. My mates from the Implacable would come and see how I was getting on, bringing all the ship鈥檚 gossip and the latest 鈥楤uzz鈥� as to where we were to go next. The strongest rumour was that we were off on a 90 day exercise, which didn鈥檛 sound too healthy and I was advised not to volunteer my discharge from hospital. Luckily the doctor agreed that the wound was 鈥榥ot quite healed鈥� so that left me able to enjoy Sydney for a bit.鈥�

For Ron, the contrast of Australia with conditions in wartime Britain could not have been more marked. Added to which the friendliness of the 鈥楢ussies鈥�, and their hospitality made his convalescence very enjoyable. The visiting servicemen were constantly invited into homes and on outings and so on, and this way Ron met an attractive girl and was invited to her parents home. Her father ran a haulage business and Ron was very impressed with their lifestyle, as he waited in their living room to meet them.

鈥淎s I waited in this very pleasant room and looked around I saw a familiar photograph on the wall. After I had been introduced to her parents I said, 鈥渨e have that picture at home, and that man there is my father鈥�. It was a photograph of a group of five men, in army uniforms, all sergeants in a unit called the Garrison Artillery. Another of the figures was George Killick, the father of the girl and he therefore knew my Dad. Well, Mr Killick was absolutely overjoyed and from then on could not do enough for me. Whenever I was at liberty to come 鈥榓shore鈥� I was taken everywhere; on visits; on picnics; around the countryside. One occasion I remember well, it was after I was back on the Implacable and working on deck. George Killick appeared on the dockside and shouted up to me that he wanted me to come off with him. I told him I was on duty and indicated that the Petty Officer along the deck would not approve of this contact. But he kept on, so I asked the PO if I could go to the gangplank, to speak to this man. With his OK I spoke to George, who persisted with his urging and said 鈥減erhaps if I had a word with him?鈥� Anyway, I told the Petty Officer the man down there would like to have a word with him, and the PO went over to George. After a bit I thought I saw a piece of paper change hands and the next thing I knew I had the rest of the day off! George Killick had organised a trip to the Blue Mountains where I spent a wonderful day, and learnt to ride a horse.

鈥淭he shortage of beer and cigarettes in Australia was another thing I remember from those days in Sydney. At that time I had no idea of the early hour that their pubs closed. One day I was in a pub, having a beer with a mate, when I noticed the girl behind the counter beginning to arrange several rows of glasses on the bar top. A few minutes later, as the dockyard hooter went for the end of the day鈥檚 work, starting at one end she began filling them - by running a large jug of beer over them - just in time as this great rush of dockers came belting through the doors, picking up the glasses and seeming to knock them back in-one! They were refilled as quickly as possible, the idea being to get as many down as you could before 6pm, when 鈥榣ast orders鈥� was called! I learnt later it was known as 鈥楾he Six o-Clock Swill鈥�

鈥淎bout the shortage of cigarettes, I learned the hard way. The good old Woodbine brand was our usual fag; they were sold in open-top green paper packs then. At this same bar, as I offered my packet to my mate, I saw what seemed like dozens of hands reach out for it, and when I got it back there was just one left!鈥�

The 鈥楤uzz鈥� that Ron had been given about the 90-day trip for Implacable had not been quite accurate. After arriving at Sydney from Europe in May 1945, she then went north early in June (without Ron) to Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands, north of Papua New Guinea. Ron joined her there later when other aircraft carriers, a battleship, destroyers etc. sailed to the island, where the carriers formed their own squadron as part of the British Pacific Fleet. At the beginning of July the fleet sailed from Manus to join with the larger American fleet, as attacks on Japan鈥檚 homeland commenced.

鈥淭he aircraft we had on Implacable in the Pacific were Avengers, Seafires and Fireflies. The Avenger was a bomber and we flew them off in the attacks on Honshu, Japan鈥檚 main island. And there were attacks on airfields and shipping by the fighters. The weather was pretty bad, as it was right in the middle of the typhoon season. We also saw a lot of the suicide bomber attacks by the kamikaze pilots. Fortunately we were not hit, but one of our carriers, Indomitable, had been hit earlier on. The British carriers had armoured decks, so little damage was done when one of these aircraft struck them, and they were back in operation an hour or two later. The American carriers had timber decks and a hit on one of those was more serious and meant the ship had to go into dock for repairs.

鈥淲e were still in action for the week after the dropping of the atom bomb in August. Then came the surrender, and all of a sudden it was all over.

鈥淏y the time the war ended I had been made up to leading hand and was an acting petty officer. I was to have become established in that rank, but as I had decided not to 鈥榮ign-on鈥� and make a career in the Royal Navy, I did not get that promotion!

鈥淚 was back in the UK at the end of 1945, at Lee-on-Solent, in time for Christmas leave. We were told to wait at home for further orders, which didn鈥檛 come until February 1946; when I was told to report to Portsmouth, to pick up my demob鈥� kit!

鈥淎nd that was that.鈥�
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