大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Robert Blair at the Ballymena Servicemen鈥檚 Association, and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Matt Morrow, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[I was] 19 [when the war started]. I joined the Navy in 1940. My first ship was HMS Furious. That was the time Belfast was bombed. We went back to our depot again. That was in Plymouth. We got a week鈥檚 leave, and then they sent us out to the Far East aboard a D-Class Cruiser, Jordan. We were there whenever the 鈥淧rince of Wales鈥� and Repulse came out. 2 battleships, and they were only out a few days when the both of them were sunk by the Japanese.
We were escorting from Singapore to Batavia, that鈥檚 the Dutch East Indies then. Escorting 3 ships, we got a bit of 鈥� Japanese aircraft and we got badly damaged. We went to Brooklyn, New York for about a fortnight, 3 weeks.

The most memorable experience was from Singapore to Batavia, in the Dutch East Indies. For maybe 2-3 hrs a Japanese plane came over and dive-bombed us. I think that was the most experiencing. I was a stoker down below. And they were telling me on the upper deck the Skipper was lying on his back, watching the planes so he could signal, Go Starboard, steering, you name it. Any one of those there.

Just after the war I was sent out to the Far East again. To do minesweeping. So I was there 3-4 months when my number came up to be demobbed. So I got demobbed in 1946. I was only in the Navy, Hostilities Only, from 1940 to 鈥�46. There were good days and bad days. It was rough. You had your good days and bad days, you know?

We were in Inverness [on VE day]. I was in Inverness. The ship鈥檚 company went out on parade that day. I went back again. After that, I was left on ship. I got another week鈥檚 leave, and I got drafted to a Minesweeper. Nigel, that鈥檚 the name of the ship. And it was sent to the Far East, to minesweep around Singapore. And the 鈥� So I was there maybe 3-4 months when my number came up to be demobbed. So I came home. And the troopship I was on, there was some of the Prisoners of war, our prisoners of war.

Some of the Army chaps was there, they were prisoners and they were skeletons. Skeletons. And the tune was on the radio. Elsie and George Waters. You wouldn鈥檛 know them, but they were kind of famous during the war. I got demobbed, and the first night I got home, I came home.

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