大象传媒

The image attached to this story cannot be viewed for moderation or technical reasons

Tommy Burns Naval Service and Personal Account of The Sinking of The HMS Repulse recorded by Jim Arbuckle

There was a family history of service in the Forces particularly the Navy and Tom was greatly influenced by the photographs on display at home like those of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

Will Kilpatrick was Tom鈥檚 good friend at school and was also the son of the principal but when Will moved on to Foyle College Tom had other plans in mind.

He had already decided to take the Royal Navy entrance exam, against his mother鈥檚 wishes, but even at age fifteen he realised that a Grammar School education would place a financial burden on his parents.

When Tom went to Belfast to do the exam he had never been out of Derry before except to travel to Fahan on the train for the Church excursions.

In 1936, at the age of sixteen, Tom was called up and sent to the Sailor鈥檚 Rest in Liverpool. It was here that he received his first introduction to multicultural life as he sat down to breakfast with nationalities, races and creeds that he had never before experienced.

He recalls:

鈥淚 had never seen this in my life. I was brought up innocently just a wee boy from Steelstown鈥�.

Tom鈥檚 next move was to the training school of HMS Ganges in Ipswich which he re-called as 鈥榯he tractor town鈥� taking with him the Bible which his mother gave him.

Although Tom had played football for Springfield Rovers in Gallagher鈥檚 field he became more active in sport from then on. He played cricket, hockey and boxed for the Navy as well as learning to swim. The swimming stood him in good stead for a later adventure in wartime.

Tom re-counted how the trainees in HMS Ganges were subject to a very strict routine of early morning parade and hard work throughout the day. He attended night classes every night to learn algebra for the first time.

Typically Tom came out top of the class in his exams but modestly attributes this to good teaching.

From HMS Ganges he was transferred to the Cornwall which sailed immediately to the Mediterranean on a training exercise. They called at Gibraltar on their way to Barcelona.

This was at the time of the Spanish Civil War and Tom remembers being diverted to evacuate some people to Las Palmas.

Some years later Tom was able to impress his wife Elaine by his knowledge of the area when they took their holidays there. Not bad for a wee boy from Steelstown.

An SOS call was received one night when Tom was on duty to inform them that a merchant ship was in trouble. There was a big storm blowing in the Gulf of Lyons and Tom鈥檚 ship lost portholes during the rescue.

Tom recalls the unexpected pleasure of having an extra three days in port while the damage was repaired in his first sight of a foreign country. He marvelled at the wealth of the people in St Tropez travelling around in chauffeur driven limousines.

On his return to England Tom was drafted firstly to HMS Revenge and then to HMS Repulse which was to be his home for the next three years.

In 1939 the Repulse was commissioned to take King George and Queen Elizabeth to America with special cabins fitted out for them. However because of the worsening situation in Europe this trip was cancelled.

An alternative trip was arranged and Tom remembers then his ship having to escort the SS Queen Elizabeth to Canada.

HMS Repulse was then sent on what was to be a fateful mission to the Far East. Sailing round the Cape as they couldn鈥檛 go through the Suez Canal, Tom remembers calling at St Helena and taking photographs of where Napoleon was held captive.

They also called at Durban where General Smuts and his daughters came aboard to wish the ship鈥檚 company all the best going off to war with the Japanese.

On arrival in Singapore Tom was surprised to see the lights of the town still burning with open-air dances still going on even though the Japanese army was not far away.

At this time Tom was working with Bob Lee and Mike Hill whose wife had a baby just before they left England.

One morning as the ship was sailing up the Malaysian Coast the alarm bells went off and Action Stations was sounded. Tom was ordered by his Chief to get on the aircraft wavelength, Lee to the fleet wavelength office while Hill and Shaffer were sent to the second office where Tom would usually work.

Tom then described what happened next:

鈥淚 soon as I sat down and got on the radio the call came 鈥榓ngels, angels鈥� which meant enemy aircraft. I was just calling to the Chief when BOOM the whole ship shook right through. I didn鈥檛 know until afterwards that the bomb had hit down at the second office where I should have been. Hill and Shaffer were killed.

I saw many boys being brought down with blood everywhere. Many were wounded and some half-dead. The Japs were machine-gunning them. They were taken below to be treated by Doctor Cavanagh from Derry. He also was killed.

The skipper shouted to abandon ship and most of the boys who got away were in the water. Bob Lee and I were fortunate to get out onto B gun deck as a reinforced steel door had been left open.

The ship was well down in the water as we jumped over the side and Bob hit his back as he went down. I never saw him after that but I know he was saved.

I swam around and eventually got on board a destroyer called the Electra. They had wire netting all around the side for us to climb up. All I had on was a pair of shorts, nothing else. Everybody else was the same.

I started helping others to come up and I saw Charlie Pease from Plymouth and got him aboard. I went to get him a wee glass of rum that all the survivors were receiving but when I came back he was dead.

I lost many great pals. That ship鈥檚 company had been together for three years and it was just like a family鈥�.

The survivors were eventually brought into Singapore to recover but there was no respite for Tom. He was immediately sent to a wireless station at the end of the island to relieve others who were being drafted home. Tom laughed when he recalled that these boys had been there for three years and never seen a bomb.

Tom and four others stayed there until the Japanese shelling drove them out. They made signals to Australia, Canada and London telling them they were closing down. They left carrying just a transmitter and a small generator.

But there was still no respite for Tom. They set up a radio station in the Governor鈥檚 bungalow to keep in touch. They dug trenches outside and had to dive into them when the Japanese bombs came down. They stayed there until a signal from Whitehall told them to leave.

HMS Scout then arrived to rescue them as the Japanese soldiers were down at the gate. The Captain told them if they wanted to get out alive to get aboard quickly as he wasn鈥檛 stopping. They jumped in and away they sailed to Java.

In Batavia a staff car was waiting for them to take them to General Wavell鈥檚 headquarters where they helped the telegraphists. Tom remembers boarding a ferryboat called the Kedda that had come in loaded with three hundred women and children evacuees from all depots.

It was typical of Tom鈥檚 misfortune that on its journey to safety the Kedda broke down and had to be towed into Colombo by a cruiser. Tom had lost all his personal belongings when the Repulse went down including his Bible which his mother later replaced.

There was no rest for Tom as the very next day he was sent to commission a wireless room in the Pankor for patrolling in the Persian Gulf. They patrolled for six months searching Arab dhows for weapons that were being smuggled into Afghanistan.

Tom has no complaints or regrets though as he explains:

鈥淚 joined the Navy and I did my duty for my country. I was very fond of my country and still am鈥�.

On passing his training course Tom was promoted to Petty Officer and began as an instructor in the college in Bombay. He met up with Lexie Moore from Derry who was later to work with him in Talbot House. Tom recalled that Lexie also taught him to play snooker in the Majestic Hotel.

During his time in the Navy Tom and Elaine had lived with her parents in Messines Park. On his return home Tom was surprised to find that his father had volunteered him to box in a charity show in the Guildhall.

Tom recalls that:

鈥淚 was boxing then as a light heavy weight. I was honoured to have Spider Kelly in my corner but even he couldn鈥檛 prevent my defeat. I had boxed previously in the Navy successfully winning the light heavy weight championship in Bombay鈥�.

Tom鈥檚 duties now were to transfer all equipment from Talbot House on the Rock Road to HMS Sea Eagle in the Waterside where he was setting up a new wireless station.

Tom laughed when he said that one of his main worries at that time was keeping the male operators from paying too much attention to all the Wrens working there. He didn鈥檛 want them neglecting their duties.

He is full of praise for his staff in Sea Eagle who wined and dined Elaine and him when he eventually left the service. Tom would recommend that anyone joining the services should join the Navy:

鈥淚t was a great life, great comradeship and a worthwhile career鈥�.

During his time in Sea Eagle Tom was drafted twice to the Far East during the Korean War for a period of ten months and was now ready to settle down at home with Elaine.

JIM ARBUCKLE

20 OCTOBER 2004

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.