Description
Object description
Photocopy of an illustrated wordprocessed memoir (30pp), written circa 2000, covering his service as a Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS GALLANT (September 1939 – January 1941) initially in the Mediterranean, based mainly on Harwich from November 1939 for North Sea convoy escort duty and including two trips to Dunkirk to assist in the evacuation of the BEF before she was damaged by air attack, and with Force H in the Mediterranean from August 1940, including the sinking of the Italian submarine LAFOLE in October 1940 and convoy escort duty, until she was mined with heavy loss of life and towed to Malta; his qualification as a navigating officer in HMS DRYAD (March – August 1941); his appointment as navigating officer in the newly commissioned monitor HMS ROBERTS (September 1941 – August 1942) and her uneventful deployment as an anti-aircraft guardship at Port Tewfik, Egypt until she was ordered to Freetown, Sierra Leone prior to the landings in North Africa; his appointment as navigating officer, in HMS TROUBRIDGE, of the 24th Destroyer Flotilla (January 1943 – November 1944) which, after working up in Home waters, served in the Mediterranean supporting the landings in Sicily and at Salerno and patrolling in the Adriatic and assisting in the sinking of U407; and his appointment as navigating officer of the cruiser HMS SUSSEX (January 1945 – March 1946) which, after working up, served with the East Indies Fleet from July 1945, came under Kamikaze attack while operating off Thailand, was the first major warship to enter Singapore after the Japanese occupation and was closely involved in the arrangements for the formal surrender of the Japanese forces there and afterwards supported the Allied forces fighting against the nationalists in Java up to February 1946. The memoir, which comments on the outstanding qualities of some of the officers under and with whom he served, notably Vice Admiral C S Holland and Captain C L Firth RN, and his admiration for many on the lower deck, concludes with a very brief note on the wartime service of other members of his family, including a brother who served as a glider pilot in the Rhine crossings in March 1945, and is accompanied by his original ms letter (14pp, with envelope), dated 23 September 1945, written from HMS SUSSEX to his brother describing his responsibility for the berthing arrangements of the Allied fleet assembled in Singapore following the end of the war and giving a vivid account of how he witnessed the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in Singapore to Lord Mountbatten on 12 September.
Content description
Photocopy of an illustrated wordprocessed memoir (30pp), written circa 2000, covering his service as a Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS GALLANT (September 1939 – January 1941) initially in the Mediterranean, based mainly on Harwich from November 1939 for North Sea convoy escort duty and including two trips to Dunkirk to assist in the evacuation of the BEF before she was damaged by air attack, and with Force H in the Mediterranean from August 1940, including the sinking of the Italian submarine LAFOLE in October 1940 and convoy escort duty, until she was mined with heavy loss of life and towed to Malta; his qualification as a navigating officer in HMS DRYAD (March – August 1941); his appointment as navigating officer in the newly commissioned monitor HMS ROBERTS (September 1941 – August 1942) and her uneventful deployment as an anti-aircraft guardship at Port Tewfik, Egypt until she was ordered to Freetown, Sierra Leone prior to the landings in North Africa; his appointment as navigating officer, in HMS TROUBRIDGE, of the 24th Destroyer Flotilla (January 1943 – November 1944) which, after working up in Home waters, served in the Mediterranean supporting the landings in Sicily and at Salerno and patrolling in the Adriatic and assisting in the sinking of U407; and his appointment as navigating officer of the cruiser HMS SUSSEX (January 1945 – March 1946) which, after working up, served with the East Indies Fleet from July 1945, came under Kamikaze attack while operating off Thailand, was the first major warship to enter Singapore after the Japanese occupation and was closely involved in the arrangements for the formal surrender of the Japanese forces there and afterwards supported the Allied forces fighting against the nationalists in Java up to February 1946. The memoir, which comments on the outstanding qualities of some of the officers under and with whom he served, notably Vice Admiral C S Holland and Captain C L Firth RN, and his admiration for many on the lower deck, concludes with a very brief note on the wartime service of other members of his family, including a brother who served as a glider pilot in the Rhine crossings in March 1945, and is accompanied by his original ms letter (14pp, with envelope), dated 23 September 1945, written from HMS SUSSEX to his brother describing his responsibility for the berthing arrangements of the Allied fleet assembled in Singapore following the end of the war and giving a vivid account of how he witnessed the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in Singapore to Lord Mountbatten on 12 September.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS