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I was born in London on 3rd October 1927. My father, Charles, was a Railway Transport Officer (Captain) in World War I. During his War Service he was gassed at Vimy Ridge and subsequently contracted T .B. and left the army in 1917 with a 100% Disability Pension.
In 1931 my father decided to settle in Palma, Majorca with my mother and sister as better weather conditions prevail in the Mediterranean, also the World was still affected by the financial Wall Street Crash of 1929 so my father's Army Pension of £5 per week was very good for these times in the early 30's particularly in the Spanish Balearic Islands.
We lived mainly in Palma and Cala Ratjada and I went to school in Barcelona. My story really starts on 26th July 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War which did not really affect us but we were advised by the British Consul to return to the United Kingdom and were told to be at the Harbour side in Palma at 0600hrs with one suitcase per family ready to board H.M.S. "Repulse" (the Battle Cruiser) sent by the Admiralty to collect British subjects. We sailed for Marseille and given £2 per family and then by train to Paris (one night) then the following day by train to Dieppe then by ferry to Newhaven. On arrival in England we journeyed to my grandmother's house in West Worthing where I stayed until January 1937 when I went to St. Michael's School in Oxford, Kent. My point in raising the Spanish Civil War is that during 1936, German and Italian planes, warships and U-boats were practicing for ultimate WWII; it was their testing period for all their military equipment. In 1938 and 1939 during the summer holidays my father called my sister and I over to stay in Northern France, Wissant:(38) and Merlimont Plage (39). The summers of ‘38 and ‘39 turned out to be dangerous times throughout Europe, mainly because of Hitler alarming many countries by threats of occupation -Austria and Czech-Slovakia.

On 3rd September 1939 at 11.00hrs we listened in the village square of Merlimont Plage to the voice of Neville Chamberlain stating that England was now at war with Germany. The French immediately called for mobilisation of their armed forces. The scenes in France by the locals were very depressing and a black day for Europe. We ourselves did not leave Boulogne until noon on 4th September on the ferry
"Canterbury" making for Newhaven. I returned to school at Oxford, Kent where I stayed until July 1942. No good purpose was served by being in London during the Blitz so all school terms and holidays were spent at school with 15 other boys. May 1940 was the start of the "Battle of Britain". We had a frontline seat being only 15 miles from Biggin Hill, RAF Fighter Station. Every day German bombers flew over our school and up the Derwent Valley to London. One day, in the summer, we counted over 100 bombers like black beetles in the sky. Dogfights continued daily, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitts, Dorniers and Junkers 77s. It was like a miniature Star Wars. One night a German bomber returning to Germany dropped seven bombs, five on the St. Michael's school cricket pitch and the two others landed in the large fishpond with a devastating effect -nothing left. My point in raising the Spanish Civil War is that during 1936, German and Italian planes, warships and U-boats were practicing for ultimate WWII; it was their testing period for all their military equipment. In 1938 and 1939 during the summer holidays my father called my sister and I over to stay in Northern France, Wissant:(38) and Merlimont Plage (39). The summers of ‘38 and ‘39 turned out to be dangerous times throughout Europe, mainly because of Hitler alarming many countries by threats of occupation -Austria and Czech-Slovakia. On 3rd September 1939 at 11.00hrs we listened in the village square of Merlimont Plage to the voice of Neville Chamberlain stating that England was now at war with Germany. The French immediately called for mobilisation of their armed forces. The scenes in France by the locals were very depressing and a black day for Europe. We ourselves did not leave Boulogne until noon on 4th September on the ferry "Canterbury" making for Newhaven. I returned to school at Oxford, Kent where I stayed until July 1942. No good purpose was served by being in London during the Blitz so all school terms and holidays were spent at school with 15 other boys. May 1940 was the start of the "Battle of Britain". We had a frontline seat being only 15 miles from Biggin Hill, RAF Fighter Station. Every day German bombers flew over our school and up the Derwent Valley to London. One day, in the summer, we counted over 100 bombers like black beetles in the sky. Dogfights continued daily, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitts, Dorniers and Junkers 77s. It was like a miniature Star Wars. One night a German bomber returning to Germany dropped seven bombs, five on the St. Michael's school cricket pitch and the two others landed in the large fishpond with a devastating effect -nothing left.
Our next experience was the return of a detachment Royal Artillery to our grounds, to rest after Dunkirk. The L.D.V. (Local Defence Volunteers), who later became the Home Guard, exercised on our 88 acres of fields. Their sole piece of armament was a 1902 Boer War Lee-Enfield rifle. The rest of the lads only had sticks and stones! V1 and V2 -Hitler's Secret Weapons -the next event to hit our shores were the VI and V2s. The "Doodle Bugs" as they were commonly known. These rocket propelled war heads were timed to arrive in or around London in a very short period of time. They did massive damage and caused a huge loss of life. Barrage balloons were used as a shield on the outer edge of London -the use of which I believe was not very reliable. The RAF used Tempests to shoot down the "Doodle Bugs" and some pilots tried to turn them around to go back to the continent by using their wing tips - very dangerous and not very successful. I left St. Michael's, Oxford in July '42 and graduated to the Thames Nautical Training College, H.M.S. "Worcester" (a "Wooden Wall" leased from the Admiralty) in September 1942. Due to the Admiralty taking over the ship as a stores vessel, we were evacuated to Foots Cray Place, Sidcup, Kent -the Stately Home of Lord Waring of Waring and Gillow -London. All our practical seamanship was done on board the "Cutty Sark" which laid close by to the "Worcester". The "Cutty Sark" was given to the "Worcester" by Captain Downman's RN widow in 1936. He had purchased the vessel from Portuguese owners and towed the vessel to Falmouth. Unfortunately Captain Downman died shortly after the vessels arrival in Falmouth. After the war "Cutty Sark" was given to an association of marine enthusiasts under the patronage of the Duke of Edinburgh and placed in a dry dock at Greenwich 1954/55. One day whilst under instruction for the art of seamanship, four of us cadets were caught smoking and for our punishment we had to hand scrub the main deck of the "Cutty Sark" - I cannot remember how long the operation took to complete but it was an arduous task. It didn't stop us from continuing to smoke unfortunately. The vessel had only three bare masts, no cross trees or sails. All very sparse. We did have a shore establishment at Green Hythe but as we did not reside there we only used the swimming pool facilities. I subsequently passed out from the "Worcester" and joined as a cadet officer for Cunard White Star, joining my first vessel, a wartime Liberty ship "Sambre" at Birkenhead. Our voyages took us first to the USA and Canada in large convoys — Very impressive, particularly for me as a young lad. In June 45 we loaded war Equipment: tanks, armoured cars and such like from Glasgow for a trip to the Far East. Our destination was the island of Okinawa where we were to discharge all our cargo including two 60 foot RAF air sea rescue launches. On arriving at Eniwetok (Marshall Islands) on 6th August 1945 we heard the U.S. had dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki so we were then directed to make for Hong Kong where we were to discharge all our cargo. We made passage to Truk in Carolines, Leyte in the Philippines and finally dropped anchor in Hong Kong Harbour. We had left England in company of seven other Liberty vessels, with the "Empress of Australia" with RAF personnel aboard. This vessel sailed independently and stopped at Hawaii on her way to Hong Kong. When we finally arrived in Hong Kong the Japanese army was still giving resistance on Victoria Island and refused to believe that the Emperor Hirohito had surrendered to the Allies. The British Sixth Airborne Division soon cleared up the remaining Japanese soldiers. The 6th then went on to the notorious Stanley camp which the Japanese set up for the detention of British soldiers and civilians. On arrival the camp was full of starving British internees, many stretcher cases who were eventually taken to Kowloon and boarded the liner "Highland Brigade" (Royal Mail vessel) acting as a hospital ship. During our six week stay in Hong Kong we had a wonderful view of the arrival of the British Pacific Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser on board the battleship "King George V" and accompanied by H.M.S. "Anson" battleship, two aircraft carriers, H.M.S. "Maidstone", submarine Mother ship plus two subs, H.M,,-S. "Ontario" and several destroyers and R.F.A. Tankers. A great sight for all to see particularly the citizens of Hong Kong. After leaving Hong Kong we sailed to Singapore to embark more detainees for onward trip to United Kingdom. Early October 1,945 we were dispatched light ship to Ch'Huangtao (by the China Wall) to load slack coal for the Shanghai power station. We did two trips to Shanghai and managed to have several football matches with the resident Chinese army. One evening we were invited by an American merchant ship to drinks on board. During conversations we asked the officers/crew what they were using for currency. Their reply was staggering -"we use monopoly money as we have several sets on board". The Chinese were keen to accept this "hard currency"! By late November 45 we made passage across the Pacific to San Francisco, arriving Christmas Eve 45. Whist halfway across the Pacific we encountered a fierce typhoon and were close to the eye of the storm, the seas were "boiling", the wind nearly horizontal and the waves when in a trough reached over one hundred feet. All very frightening for an 18 year old cadet. Our steering gear did break down for 15 minutes which again was very perilous and numbing at the time. Due to this bad weather we had a flood in No.1 lower hold of 12 feet of water on our arrival in San Francisco. We made fast by Oakland Bridge in San Francisco Bay and were able to see the famous island of Alcatraz -The "Birdman" was in Residence! The situation in the City was one of joy and total drunkenness. Over 90,000 U.S. servicemen were on Leave having been demobilised -quite frightening at times on the streets. After two Weeks we sailed for Portland, Oregon to go into a dry dock for a much needed clean and scrub. After a stop of one week we made our way to Vancouver to load a full cargo of grain for the U.K. After a week in Vancouver we left for Coos Bay, Oregon to load timber in upper holds and on deck. We then made our way back to San Francisco to load 500 tons of Sun Maid raisins before finally leaving for the U.K. via the Panama Canal. The voyage was uneventful until nearing the Azores when we ran into a hurricane which caused us to slow down and to release our timber deck cargo over the side. Very tricky with the vessel pitching into high seas and the strong winds making standing virtually impossible on deck. After several days the weather improved and we made our way up to the port of Glasgow. Great to be home in one piece after being away for nearly nine months. Between 1946 & 1948 I visited Texas, to load wool, Cienfuegos, Southern Cuba to load Bagged sugar, followed by a voyage to Pepel in West Africa to load a full cargo of iron ore for Middlesbrough. Our third officer, Leslie Portet and the Senior Cadet, Frank Ridley both became in later years Commodore Master of the Queen Elizabeth II. I was the Junior Cadet at that time and if I had stayed at sea maybe I could have followed suit

As a footnote I would like to add that during Christmas 1939 I stayed with my father who was living in a hotel in Putney, London. One afternoon, just before Christmas my father introduced me to Dr Benes, President of Czech-Slovakia and his Foreign Secretary, Jan Masarky. They gave me a box of chocolates.

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