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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from CSV London/´óÏó´«Ã½ London on behalf of Bob Oddy and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Oddy fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Merchant Navy
I joined my first ship, SS Gloucester Castle, at King George V Docks on 10 October 1935 as a saloon boy aged 15 years of age. After that I joined many different ships to numerous exciting countries.

War Years
I was ashore in ‘Balboa’ on the Panama Canal where we were told that war had been declared and to report back to our ship, SS Mataroa, which was heading for New Zealand. The Ship arrived back home on the 20 September 1939.

In May 1940, I joined a cable laying ship, Paraday, vital to communications. We were attacked by German dive bomber aircraft. We took a direct hit killing many of my shipmates and I landed up in hospital.

In 1941 an assignment of merchant navymen of various ranks were sent to New York to await a Lease Lend ship donated by the USA. We were taken to the Southern State of Virginia to the ship SS Artimis and carried over 400 mules (?) to Liverpool in September 1941.

After many other voyages, I joined SS Strathallan, carrying troops to North Africa in convoy. Around 1.15am the ship was hit by a torpedo. The lights went out and we were listing badly. The Captain ordered to abandon ship.

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