大象传媒

The Lane family were a typical naval family living in Chatham. Herbert, the head of the family, was a 'Tiffy' the familiar name for an Engine Room Artificer. He had joined the navy in 1917 as an Artificer Apprentice. When war came in 1939 Herbert was soon in action.
1941 saw him in Egypt and he was sent to the port of Tobruk to join the Army garrison withstanding a siege from the Afrika Korps. There he had to undertake some dangerous work in the harbour under German bombardment. He met many of the Australians defending Tobruk and was struck by their attitude to army discipline. They didn't always show the greated respect for authority. Chief Petty Officer Herbert Lane was sent back to his ship HMS Medway in Alexandria and escaped being taken prisoner when Tobruk fell to Rommel. The Australians too had been withdrawn. HMS Medway left Alexandria and was torpedoed by a U-boat. Following the call to abandon ship, Herbet made the long jump from the deck into the Mediterranean and was rescued by the destroyer HMS Zulu.
The loss of Medway was a serious blow. She was a fine submarine repair ship. My Dad said the living conditions on board were very good. The British sailors' dry humour was shown by the comment said of HMS Medway. 'She was the most comfortable ship in the Navy. They never made the same mistake again.'
Herbert Lane was not finished with danger. He found himself in the Battle of the Atlantic on HMS Chelmer, a frigate escort, and then in the dangerous game of minesweeping on HMS Jasuer. Herbert's wartime activity meant that injury or death was a distinct possibility. The fact is that an injury was lying in wait for my Dad but in surprising circumstances. Despite the times spent away from home he did find himself on occasions back in HMS Pembroke the Royal Naval Barracks in Chatham and that meant leave at home with my mother, brother and me a small boy.
A neighbour of ours obtained for us, much to my delight, a black kitten which we named Toby. He came to us from the ARP, with whom our neighbour worked. Toby grew into a fine cat. During a spell of leave for my Dad he was preparing Toby's dinner which was a fish head. Somehow Herbert cut his thumb on the meal. Unfortunately as his leave progressed his hand, instead of getting better, got increasingly more painful and the wound was obviously infected. By the time he reported back for duty he was in considerable distress. The result of this fishing encounter was that he had to have half of his thumb removed after being confined to hospital.
So having faced the perils of the deep, the might of the Afrika Korps and having survived the 'tin fish' fired from U372 which sank HMS Medway he carried his 'wartime' injury for the rest of his life inflicted by Toby's dinner.

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