大象传媒

On a normal visit to see my Grandad in his house in Preston, I remember a story that he told me about his time in the Royal Navy. He rarely told me stories because the war did not have many pleasant memories for him.

He told me that during one of his long and tiring days at sea, his small vessel got Torpedoed. As the boat began to sink and all of his friends and collegues struggled to save themselves from drowning, he realised that his toes were caught in the anker chains. He was dragged under the water by the sinking vessel and was desperately trying to escape. His toes eventually worked free and he swam to the surface to be greeted by another British Navy vessel which took himself and his collegues to a local hospital in Germany. There, his partial toes that had been tremedulusly effected by the lack of blood circulation, had to be amputated.

I asked him to show me his feet especially the foot with only one toe remaining. Being 7 years old, i was unable to fully understand where it was that his toes were. He gave me a short and, to me, frightful answer - Fish had eaten them while he was on his boat. That put me off eating fish for a year, just in case i found his toes. It's funny what you believe, but the reality is a shocking story that could have ended his life.

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