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This contribution was submitted by Walter Williams in an interview with Edgar Lloyd and is added to the site with his permission.

I originally signed up for the air force….everybody had to state their preference. When I went to join up, I wanted to get away quite quickly because of a gap in my medical training. I was told the Air Force wouldn’t want me for some time, six months or so. So then I went down to the docks in Cardiff and inquired about the Merchant Navy and discovered I could join up straight away….as an engine room fireman, trimmer . There was a training course for about six weeks…they showed you which end of the shovel to hold…how to put the coal in, and tend to the fires. You had to tend to the fires to get the best combustion, and we were trained in rowing a lifeboat and basic explanation of the functions of a Scotch Marine steam boiler and how the triple expansion engine used to work. By the time I went, late 1943, mastery of the Atlantic had been gained by the Allies…although I never knew the severity of the losses before, or that the hump had been crossed. I hung around for a bit, I was keen to get off, but they hadn’t any need for my services at the time. Eventually I was sent to Liverpool and went down to the shipping office on a bleak November morning and was very pleased to see several of the lads who’d been in training school with me. They put us in some seaman’s hostel for about three days and then we were sent to catch a ship in the docks which was just about to sail. It was a liner called the Franconia and it was taking troops…and when we got there we were told to hurry because the gangplanks were about to be drawn up, so we scuttled across the wharf there to the catcalls and jeers of about two thousand servicemen on the deck! We didn’t know where they were going at that time, but it turned out they were going to Algeria.

We put in at Algiers and went ashore — we had a couple of days there. I had three voyages on the Franconia over six months in total.

The second trip we made was to New York, where we picked up a load of Yankee servicemen and brought them back to Liverpool. And then the third trip we went back out to the Mediterranean again …and we went right across the Mediterranean and ended up in Port Said. I think when we came back from Port Said we had a load of Indian troops on board.

After I was on the Franconia I was on the Mauritania for six months. And I think it was during my time on the Mauritania that I took German prisoners of war over to America as well as trips with American servicemen. There was good entertainment on board, there’d be a different show on every night on the way over to New York. It didn’t take long as she was a fairly fast ship. There were some well known acts, I remember Spike Jones and his city slickers….and they were even better in the flesh than they were on the radio.

Living conditions on both vessels were pretty basic…we slept in bunks. It was adequate, there was nothing to grumble about…. it was probably as good as anywhere else in the services. The food was excellent and as much as you wanted and you didn’t have to pay for it.

The next ship I was on was an oil tanker and that brought a load of aviation spirit back from New Jersey to this country….as tankers go today it was miniscule, probably about six or seven thousand tons and that was in convoy. We didn’t have any incidents.

Over the years I remember incidents in a number of ports: We were stuck in Boston for a couple of weeks…I think there was some engine trouble. So after about a week, we’d got through our subs out of our wages…so there’d be nothing much to do in the evenings. So quite a few of the boys got shore jobs, temporary shore jobs. And I noticed an advert for help in a café establishment….so I went in and asked would they take me on and they said yes. There was no bother about identification or work permits or anything like that. My job was quite simple. It was mainly a self service café and I just had to collect up the plates and the cutlery after the patrons had left and deliver them to be washed. …You’d think that would be easy enough - no actual waiting, no bringing out the food, no taking orders, but I was quite busy and I’ve had the greatest of respect for service staff in restaurants since that time. I used to start about seven or eight o’clock in the evening and work until about two o’clock in the morning. Then I’d go back to the ship and grab some sleep and start work on the ship about seven or eight o’clock. While you were in port you did day work - ordinary working hours, not shifts. They used to pay me daily and I also had a free meal at the end of the shift, which was very acceptable. I did that for the best part of a week and then we were ready to sail again. There was quite a difference in Boston compared to Britain…wartime here was austere and everything in the States was booming. You didn’t get the same wartime atmosphere as you did in Britain.

We had a night out in Antwerp and got a fair distance from the docks so we decided it would be best if we caught a tram back. Well, for some reason or other - whether I was trying to avoid the fare, I was a bit late scrambling on, or slight inebriecy…I got on the bumpers at the back instead of inside the vehicle. I thought I’d get off when I saw the rest of the boys inside get off, as they’d be told the stop by the conductor. And I didn’t see them get off. I was on this tram for a hell of a time and eventually ended up in the depot and was told that was the last tram and there were no others going out. So there was no way of getting back to Antwerp. It was up a bit of an incline, this depot, the lights of Antwerp were spread out in the distance….about twenty miles away. I started walking along the road - it was a main road, not out in the countryside or anything. And I saw a big Yankee lorry coming hurtling down, so I gave it a thumb, and lo and behold he picked me up and took me back into the centre of Antwerp, which was very good of him because he wouldn‘t have recognised me as an Englishman, being in civilian clothes. I then walked back to the ship and didn‘t get back too late - managed to get some sleep in. Whereas if I‘d had to walk back I might have missed the thing sailing in the morning.

We went to Hamburg just after the end of the fighting and what struck me was the devastation…the amount of damage that had been done by the allied bombing. Hamburg suffered from the firestorm which we didn’t ..hadn’t read about we were just told the place had been heavily bombed. The extent of the destruction was an eye opener. We went ashore - there was a football match arranged between the ship and an army team. The football pitch was several miles outside the city centre and we went by bus and travelled mile upon mile, upon mile without seeing a whole building standing.

On the quayside we met people - Germans -ready to sell you goods for cigarettes
We met up with one chap there and we had smuggled cigarettes ashore because cigarettes were the European currency at the time. Other goods could be traded as well…soap, tea and any sort of commodity. Money was no use to them. We met up with this chap and we did some trading. And some of the things we were asking for he said he’d get us. He’d taken us to his flat in a block and he said if we called back in a couple of nights he would have the gear. So there was a bit of trouble about taking cigarettes - You weren’t supposed to and you could be picked up either taking them ashore or taking them back to the ship. So we decided not to risk that so we left the cigarettes with the fellow. We took him on trust and we came back in a couple of days and went up to his flat and we couldn’t get an answer at the door at all. So we thought…he’s well and truly scarpared with those cigarettes and that’s that. Then somebody else on the balcony of the flats came out and said he’d moved away, and confirmed our suspicions. But then, just as we were about to go he appeared….and he had the goods that he said he’d get for us…which was very honest of him. He could have disappeared with the cigarettes and we would never have seen him again. You wouldn’t have thought he would feel so kindly to the conquerors as it were. We had a pair of binoculars, ex German army binoculars…amongst other things, some watches, a camera, pens.

I never cared for tea very much. I always preferred coffee. There was a stipulated ration for seamen for coffee and tea, and I never drew my tea ration. I just used to draw my coffee ration. One day one of the old timers remarked on my liking coffee. and I said Yes, sure I much prefer it…and he said why don’t you draw coffee for the rest of the watch - none of the other boys want it. I’m sure they’ll let you have their rations. So I went to the storekeeper and asked if I could draw the rations for the whole of the watch. So at the end of the trip I went along and drew the rations for the whole engine room watch ….this was pure ground coffee, none of the camp stuff….and distributed it to the family.

When I came out of the service in 1947 - I got my discharge in July or August and started medical school again in the September.

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