Trotter, James (Oral history)

British seaman served aboard RMS Laconia in Atlantic, 1939-1941; served with Royal Navy Commandos, Combined Operations in GB and Mediterranean, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Edinburgh, GB, 1918-1939: family; education; joining Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1936; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Laconia in North Atlantic, 1939-1941: joining armed merchant cruiser; ship's armament; seasickness during first voyage; life aboard ship; loss of merchant vessels during North Atlantic convoys; relative ineffectiveness of ship on North Atlantic convoys; roles as butcher and topman; action station; the watch system and effect on sleep; taking food aboard in Canada; grounding of ship and damage to keel in Halifax, Canada; ablution facilities; muster system; discipline; shore leave in Halifax, Canada; background to volunteering for Royal Navy Commandos at Portsmouth, GB, 1942. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of training with Royal Navy Commandos, Combined Operations at HMS Quebec, Inveraray, GB, 1942: character of training at Inveraray including use of motor boats; description of landing craft trained on; further training aboard HMS Roseneath in Loch Fyne. Aspects of operations as coxwain with Royal Naval Commandos, Combined Operations during Operation Torch in North Africa, 11/1942: embarking aboard HMS Windsor Castle; landing United States Army troops at Oran, French Algeria; return of HMS Windsor Castle to River Clyde and reception in Glasgow. Aspects of operations as coxwain with Royal Naval Commandos during landings in Sicily, Italy, 7/1943: landing Canadian Army troops from HMS Gleneagles. REEL 3 Continues: apprehension about threat from German Air Force Junker Ju 87 Stuka dive bombing attacks. Aspects of period at HMS Saunders, Kabrit, Egypt, 1943: move to Kabrit; training troops for amphibious landings on Great Bitter Lake; obtaining promotion to leading seaman; entertainment at Kabrit. Recollections of operations as leading seaman with Royal Naval Commandos, Combined Operations in Italy and Yugoslavia, 1943-1945: conditions on board American merchant vessel during voyage from Port Said, Egypt to Bari, Italy, 9/1943; anchoring in Bari Harbour, Italy, 9/1943; rescue work from sunken tanker; role of landing craft aiding Eighth Army; retrieving corpse of drowned seaman at Manfredonia, Italy, 1944; danger of German mines at Ancona, Italy, 1944; German destruction of railway system at Ancona, Italy. REEL 4 Continues: duties in Ancona, Italy; move to Vis Island, Yugoslavia; role of landing craft; character of Yugoslav Partisans; his work picking up wounded from booby traps on Dalmatian Islands, Yugoslavia; sight of United States Army Air Force armadas; rescue of United States Army Air Force airmen from sea around Vis Island, Yugoslavia; his wounding in legs by mortar fire on Brac Island, Yugoslavia; move of landing craft flotilla to Split, Yugoslavia; contents of compo ration boxes; how a cup of tea and a cigarette would sustain him during Second World War. REEL 5 Continues: work deterring frogmen attacks on HMS Delhi at Split, Yugoslavia; suffering from leg wounds and medical treatment received; his declining offer to serve in Burma and return to GB, 1945.