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Alan Desmond Walton was in the Navy during World War 2 and was stationed mainly in Colombo-Sri Lanka. His job was a telegraphist, working mainly in communications. Because he could speak French he was also able to go on land to visit shops and the local people in Madagascar.
In 1940 the Navy started recruiting men, I became a telegrapher sparker. July 1940, I joined the Royal Arthur in Skegness for training and I learned Morse code, which I needed to know for work as a telegraphist. Six months later, I manned the beaches with rifles. After another 6 months I went to a naval base in Portsmouth.
After that I went to Liverpool and took a boat to get to Aden, to join a cruiser. On the boat we put on plays for entertainment. When we were travelling in the boat to get to Aden, we stopped off at Cape Town, where we were not allowed to mix with black people. From there we went to Aden, Africa on HMS Sheba and HMS Caledon. We crossed the Red Sea and visited Cairo. We also saw the pyramids of ancient Egypt.
We went from Aden to Sri Lanka. All the big ships went to Colombo. I had four years going back and forward to Colombo. We were bombed in Colombo when the Japanese had taken over Pearl Harbour.
When we crossed the equator we had a special celebration called ‘crossing the line’. In December 1941 the events in Pearl Harbour brought the Americans into the war. This was when the Japanese began taking over other countries. The Japanese fleet approached India. In February the ship that I was on was torpedoed, it limped back to Colombo harbour. In April the Japanese attempted to catch the British fleet. However, the British fleet left the Harbour and some of the ships were sunk at sea. I was on one of the ships that were stuck on the Harbour when bombed by Japanese planes, other ships were sunk in the Harbour. I then had to leave that ship and I was attatched to a ship in the Indian navy and visited Bombay and Karachi. I then had to return by train to Colombo. I was bitten by a mosquito, and caught malaria. I didn’t find out till I was in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I ended up on a hospital ship in Mombassa. Then I had eight months in Madagascar, after it was taken over by the British. In June 1943 I left Madagascar for England, after two and a half years in the Indian Ocean.
After being in England for six months, I was on a ship and was involved in the sinking of too German U-boats. We also rescued the survivors from the Atlantic, where we were guarding convoys. We took the Germans (those that hadn’t been drowned) back to Liverpool. The Press were there, but it didn’t appear in the papers for several months. I then discovered the Frigate I was on was destined for the Indian Ocean. Once more I was back in Colombo. This time we went via the Mediterranean and the Red sea to Salon. I spent the next two years based on the Indian Ocean. I spent this going to various parts of the Indian Ocean and had a refit in Cape Town. In April 1945 I was off the coast of Burma while the British army was winning the war against Japan. On the 5th of may it was V day in Europe and my ship spent some time in Rangoon Harbour in Burma. At the end of the war with Japan I was in Singapore
while the Japanese surrendered. I was demobilised on February 1946.

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