大象传媒

I was 16yrs old in May & pursuaded my Mother to let me take a day off work to go to Nottingham to enquire about joining the Royal Navy. On 25th of October, in 1943, I was finally taken by train to Great Malvern in Worcestershire.
After 8 weeks training, which is a separate story,I was selected for further training at a car plant in Isleworth, Middlesex, where I qualified to become a Motor Mechanic,Class 1, which meant I was to serve on Motor Torpeado Boats.
Early in 1944, when my training was complete, I was sent on 'draft' to the 'Med'
My 18th. birthday was spent on an American boat on my way to join the 10th Flotilla of MTBs.
As far as I can remember, we put in at Oran,then Algiers, North Africa,& after brief stops for fuel we went on to places I can only remember vaguely: Bone, Booji, Sfax,& finally Malta. It appears we were following the advance of the 8th. Army.
From Malta, after the invasion of Siccily,the flotilla went on Alexandria, Egypt.
There were about 8 MTBs. in the flotilla & I found myself in 11 different Countries in ten months. Not all the boats survived & certainly not many of the crews came home.
What puzzles me is that nothing is ever heard of the exploits of The Coastal Forces.
Were they expendable?

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