大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Jim Ferguson, MBE, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was David Reid, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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I was at the Japanese surrender in 45. I was Navy, RNVR Ulster Division. The Caroline. I joined as a boy in 36, and was among the first volunteers to leave NI.

I done that synopsis of the war from 42 to the surrender of the Japanese in Pearl Harbour. Beside the American ship the Missouri where it was signed, we sent a table over for to, they were looking for a big table and we sent our table over off the King George V. They sent it back again, and they wouldn鈥檛 take it because they wanted to be on it. We were in there to see the first POWs that were in Japanese hands under Mount Fuji. In the harbour.

It was horrible. There was hardly any beef on them.
They were POWs in the 鈥� out down there in the Far East. And then we lay beside the Harrow 鈥� HMS Harrow was the other ship of our Sqdn. KG5. We were battleships. We were for firing the 14-inch guns and we used to go out with the Harrow and go behind the 3 American battleships. We鈥檇 go out and do a bombardment of Okinawa, and then turn round. And that meant we were the last in line coming out, and doing the manoeuvre 鈥� when it was done 鈥� we went out and did a broadside, then we turned round and did another broadside. But we were always last coming out, so that meant we would always get the flack of the enemy artillery.

But I came through all that Japanese war, while the Americans, we were with the American fleet for a long time, task force 57, and we were the flag ship out among that and the Duke of York was the C-in-C out there, but they lay in Australia. And Prince of Wales and Repulse, they were sunk the night before we came out. I came out on HMS Dauntless after serving 2 yrs 8 mths in Singapore, where they captured all those POWs. I鈥檇 been out there since that. I went out there with the Navy, and went out to Sydney and had a good time in Sydney. They have a harbour named after the KG5 there. Where we were berthed there after the war. I left the ship out there, because we were supposedly first out but we didn鈥檛 get out until the end of 46, before we came home here. And then they weren鈥檛 going to give us the leave we were entitled to. But we kicked up and we got it all right.

I鈥檝e all the medals. I鈥檝e the 5 medals 鈥� the MBE, and I have the 2 corvettes, you know. I鈥檓 the only one, as Admiral Hezlett used to say to me, I鈥檓 the only one who has a full house that he knows of. All the 鈥�
I took the surrender of the Italians on the way out, and bombed Gibraltar and all round there, and came on round the 鈥� on out through the med to the Far East. And there we were at the sinking of the Tirpitz way down at Cape Town. I was on a wee destroyer, D-class HMS Darden at that time. That鈥檚 one the reserve sailors went on. And then they went on. Off the Caroline, we formed 4 ships 鈥� Darden, Daily, Dutch and Dauntless. We were D-class cruisers, all of them 鈥� they brought them into commission and we joined them on 30th of, just before the war started. 39, the war started. And I went away in June before the war started, RNVR 鈥� and we were a right crowd. We were all very noisy, until the war, we got word there was a state of war between them and 鈥� I have it all, all the signals. I鈥檓 a signalman, and I have all the signals of the war. I got my diary of the war. I have a big diary. It was published in one of the Burma Star books in England. I have a copy. They鈥檙e going to get, chaps that鈥檚 coming up tomorrow are interested.

[what kind of ships did you mainly serve on?]
I only done 鈥� They were D-Class cruisers. I done that until 42, and then there was one signalman to be sent up to Singapore. And then I was in Singapore, in the signals crew there, and 鈥�

[under direct attack?]
Many times. I never though that much about it until the war ended. I started to worry, to wonder about the things, getting home then, you see? I was in charge of all the flags that went up, hoisting all the flags for surrender against the Japanese, you see? And the Japanese dive-bombers came out of the sky and started bombing us again. So the Admiral made a signal which we hoisted, and I was there for hoisting it as well. 鈥渟hoot down the bastards in a friendly manner鈥�. I thought it was a very good one.

He didn鈥檛 mince his words, no.

I was on the Caroline, I was down there presenting a flag from the old King George V. It鈥檚 hanging down there. They鈥檝e preserve it, and they have it up. And I鈥檓 in the process of going down and seeing them again.

We were young, you see.

After, I think it was Gibraltar. No, it was way out in the Far East. Away up, Wake island or somewhere, way up near Australia. And they let the Americans and British went shore together, so it finished up for a free-for-all. It was just one of those things, you know? And it was decided that the Americans would go in the Morning and we would go in the afternoon. And then we had many a comic thing coming back aboard the Whaler to take us back. See, if an officer come, you sent for a boat for one officer if you had a station there. But the crowd was that big it pushed and pushed, and we were falling in over the side. Getting the boat-hooks out and hooking us up again. Comic!

[gold]
yes, I said to you about getting the Gold Bullion out, didn鈥檛 I? We brought the gold bullion back from Singapore. No, we were on the, we come out there just before it fell and then we were to watch at night for the Repulse and Prince of Wales. And they were sunk by the Japanese on their way in, just about 200 miles from Singapore. Which is quite close. And they sunk those 2 ships, and we were told to get up steam and away.

I had just joined the other ship before 鈥� that was the HMS Thompson, and brought the gold bullion home on it. But we didn鈥檛 know about that until we come home, that we had the gold on board it. Oh, it was [a very important cargo].

[heat]
Prickly heat was the worst. You used to get lime juice for that. It鈥檚 supposed to be a cure. You drink it. And then we got rum as well. A wee tot of rum. And then the Yankees couldn鈥檛 take the rum. And my mate, he was a clinic in charge of the Americans, he was from British signals, you see? And he could drink the rum 鈥� that much blooming neat rum, he used to go down where the hammocks were and stay there for a long time.

[entertainment]
Swimming over the side and playing water polo. Football between different ships, and I used to be the Capt of ours. We could call, I used to play for the old HMS Caroline down here 鈥� I used to play football for them, I used to swim for them. That鈥檚 what, I never got much promotion during the war. I only, I had to get up to train up to be signalman TO 鈥� trained operator. But I liked the ship I was on, and if you got promotion there was a chance of being sent off the ship. And they made all the ships, all the flags for the surrender of the Italians and them all, right up and bombed all those islands up.

But our biggest one was the fleet, the American Fleet, Task Force there - Okinawa and all. The atomic bomb being dropped.

[where were you when that happened?]
We were well out of the road. We knew it was being dropped. We knew that we were well off the thing. There was 2 dropped, and we 鈥� our admiral had been attach茅 in Tokyo before the war, and he said we would never beat the Japs. And we thought that the atomic bomb shouldn鈥檛 have been dropped. They thought it was a 鈥� it flattened the whole country. But they, the fleet that the Americans had out there was colossal. And we worked with them and we fuelled off the oil tankers at Appeleaf and Pearleaf. And then they came out and met us, and just 2 days out and 2 days strike and then back up to Leyte for to refuel. The yanks were quite good, we used to refuel off their places up there. But it was like a whole big town travelling along. I鈥檝e a lot of photos of it, all travelling along.

[friendly fire? Rivalry?]
They always had the capability of the stuff there. They were never short of anything.
At the start they didn鈥檛 want us, and then their admiral 鈥� Admiral Nimitz - welcomed us in and came aboard us and gave us a talk and said he was glad to see us there. And we became then one of the Task Force of the Americans. We became the American fleet and they were very good to us.

The Italian surrender 鈥� I was in charge [of the flags], I had a sewing machine.
Flown from the thing.
I didn鈥檛 make the Union Jacks up, they were supplied. But I was in charge of stores. And then, my place was down, way down below. And if there had been an air attack, all those big hatches came down. Well, I was caught down there once. Oh, it was quite tense.

You wouldn鈥檛 get up again. The hatches were closed, they weren鈥檛 to be opened again til the signal, the all clear was given. We used to go to the air stations in the morning, state of alert. And out there about 4 in the morning, it was daylight at half 4. So you were up there at half 4, eyes half closed, and then the Japanese plane came down, it was coming straight at our flag deck, where the admiral was. And I stood round the corner and watched them coming to me. And it just got it before it come, just before it got into 鈥� And a big cheer went up.

But when all the 14-in guns were going off, and the ack-ack guns and all, I鈥檓 applying now for hearing, for an application for hearing.

Mountbatten was a gentleman.

Vera Lynn. I presented her with flowers, and I got a kiss.

They would always say, on the convoys to Russia, that the fleet was back in. But we weren鈥檛, we were maybe 3 or 4 days out. We returned safely, but we were still at sea. It was to put off the submarines. Up to a certain position going up to Murmansk we were covered by air support up to a certain stage. But after that there was a space where the submarines had a free run. And then when we got near to Murmansk we turned round, just left the, handed the fleet over, brought the ships back.

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