Withers, Ernest (Oral history)

British civilian factory worker in Langley, GB, 1940-1942; served as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Empire Pintail in Indian Ocean and Red Sea, 1942-1943; served aboard SS Samuel Very in Atlantic, 1943; served aboard SS Westcliff Hall on River Clyde, GB, 1943-1944; served aboard SS Lancing and SS Samtana in Pacific, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Stourbridge, GB, 1922-1939: family; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as factory worker at Langley, near Oldbury, GB, 1940-1942: fire watching duties; work making gun belts for Browning Machine Gun; female workforce; unionisation and disputes in factory; war production; German Air Force raids including lone German bomber attack on Austin Motor Coy Ltd works at Longbridge, 1941; public morale. Aspects of enlistment and training as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner at HMS Glendower, Pwllheli and HMS Wellesley, Liverpool in GB, 1942: enlistment in Royal Navy; size of gun crews; start of training at HMS Glendower Pwllheli. REEL 2 Continues: further training at HMS Wellesley, Liverpool. Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Empire Pintail in Indian Ocean and Red Sea, 1942-1943: voyage to pick up ship in New York, United States of America, summer 1942; ashore in New York, United States of America; volunteering for service on board; loading ship, 7/1942; origins of the ship; crewing of ship and explanation of meaning of T124X personnel; voyage to Red Sea; running aground on reef forty miles off Port Sudan, Sudan. REEL 3 Continues: degree of damage to ship; unloading of deck cargo using lighters; refloating of ship off reef; how he nearly got stranded on coral reef; discharging cargo in Port Sudan, Sudan; putting into Bombay, India for repairs; how he gave evidence at ships officer's court martial in Mombasa, Kenya; disposal of bomb cargo in Bombay, India; loading tea, gunney and monkeys at Calcutta, India; voyage to United States of America via Australia, 1943; his fellow gunner Bill Young who had escaped from Rangoon, Burma after it's fall to the Imperial Japanese Army, 3/1942. Aspects of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Samuel Very in North Atlantic, 8/1943-9/1943: North Atlantic crossing; problems of keeping station and fog. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Westcliff Hall on River Clyde, GB, 1943: drafting to ship at Gourock, 10/1943; coal bunkering work in River Clyde; other duties in River Clyde; volunteering for foreign service, early 1944. Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Lancing in Pacific, 1944-1945: voyage aboard HMT Andes to Canada; background to drafting to ship; initial impressions of ship in Vancouver, Canada; national composition of crew; walk off by crew because of friction with captain; voyage to San Francisco, United States of America to load DUKWs for Fiji; his opinion of the captain; reasons why captain criticised him for mixing with Fijian crew; status of Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunners on board; his pushing up the tallying rate in Tonga. REEL 5 Continues: return to Vancouver, Canada, 1945. Aspects of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Samtana in Pacific, 1945: drafting to ship, 6/1945; VJ Day in Port Darwin, Australia, 15/8/1945; bomb devastation and wrecks in harbour at Port Darwin, Australia. Reflections on service as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner, 1942-1945: lack of contact with Axis forces during service; story of nearly ramming American patrol boat whilst serving aboard SS Empire Pintail in Caribbean, 1942.