大象传媒

Travelling from Sheffield, I think there was about a dozen of us, we arrived at a navel establishment in Great Malvern, to begin our induction into the Royal Navy.

After a few weeks we went to Chatham for a course on diesel training, then on to Portsmouth to await a draft for my first ship. When it came, my name along with about twenty others was listed to join H.M.S. Glenroy.

At the then unnamed venue we were put on a train and travelled north for many hours. We reached Stranraer then a ferry to Larne where we met up with the Glenroy on St Patrick鈥檚 day 1944.

The Glenroy seamed huge and had been undergoing a refit. The ship had capacity to carry 1500 to 2000 troops, 27 landing craft and three Tank Landing Craft and a formidable array of anti-aircraft guns. She had been constructed along with other ships as an 鈥渋nvasion weapon鈥�.

Being quickly integrated as part of the ships crew, I found it hard to come to terms with the fact that just a few short months earlier I had never been anywhere on my own, yet here I was, a very young 18 year old with a massive inferiority complex, living and working alongside these seafarers, some of whom had been at sea for a decade or more. I was accepted despite being the butt of a joke from time to time, might confidence grew slightly.

From Belfast we headed to the south coast and began intensive practice landings near Calshot . When the call came we were issued with a leaflet telling us we were about to take part in the invasion of France 鈥淒 day鈥� had arrived, this was signed by Dwight.E.Eisenhower (Commander in Chief)

In the fading mist there were hundreds of ships, the nearest battleship being the H.M.S Nelson with one huge gun of immense power. Down in the engine room of the Glenroy only dull bumps and crashes indicated what was taking place. There was however, no mistaking Nelsons 鈥淏ig Gun鈥�, a tremendous crash and the sea positively boiled.

Our first call was Arromanches鈥� we dropped anchor, some distance from the French coast, we lowered the landing crafts , dispatching over 1500 troops, not knowing , but hoping they would fulfil their tasks. During the next eight days we did three more landings at different beaches, the last one deploying Americans near Cherbourg, this proved to be the end for us, as the Glenroy hit a mine. With the engine room flooded to a depth of 35 feet most of the ships crew were evacuated and we were towed by three French tugs back to Southampton, and then to dry dock for repair and re-fit in Cardiff.

Prior to a stint in the Far East, the estimated number of troops landed in our four visits to France was approximately 7500.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.