Hook, Sydney Charles (Oral history)

British seaman served with Royal Navy Patrol Service on minesweepers and bomb disposal work in GB, 1939-1942; petty officer served as shipwright aboard LST 403 in US, Mediterranean and during Normandy landings, 1943-1944

REEL 1 Background in Teignmouth, GB, 1920-1939: family and education. Reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Joining Royal Navy Patrol Service, Exeter, 12/1939. Period aboard HMS Stella Capella, early 1940: role on anti- aircraft gun and failure of asdic course. Period working with Royal Navy bomb disposal unit in GB, 1940: digging for bomb in Cleethorpes; digging for coal aboard ship in Immingham, 1940. Period aboard minesweeper HMS Ross, 1940: Heinkel 111 attack on ship, ca 5/1940; nature of living conditions aboard. Period aboard minesweeper HMS Chameleon, 1940-1942: mine spotting work in River Humber; opinion of life aboard; period of shore leave in Hull, 1942. Transfer to Royal Navy General Service, 8/1942. Drafting to ATLC 10 at Chatham, 1942. Voyage from GB to US aboard Queen Mary. Period on naval draft in US, 1942-1943: arrival in Boston; accommodation in Wells Fargo Barracks, Boston. REEL 2 Continues: building of ATLC 10 in prefabricated sections, late 1942; attitude of US civilians to Royal Navy personnel, 1942-1943; working up in Long Island Sound early 1943. Recollections of operations as petty officer shipwright aboard LST 403 in Mediterranean, 1943-1944: voyage from US to Gibraltar; sinking of LCT launched from side of ship; supplying British 1st Army along North African coast; Hermann Goering grenadier POWs aboard ship, 5/1943; sabotage of news cameraman work; contact with German POWs; ferrying work between North Africa and Malta; summer 1943; loss of pontoon on way to Sicily, 7/1943; Sicilian landings, 7/1943; removal of captain after Sicily landings; Italian misuse of Red Cross in Sycracuse, 7/1943. REEL 3 Continues: reunion with brother from HMS Offa, Augusta, Sicily ca 9/1943; landing at Reggio di Calabria, 9/1943; action station aboard; opinion of Salerno landings. 9/1943; sight of sunken LST in quay in Corsica; loading for Anzio landings, 1/1944; failure to send pontoons during Anzio landings, 1/1944; memories of Anzio landings 1/1944-2/1944; fire aboard ship caused by German radio controlled bombs; memories of troops landed at Anzio; evacuation of Italian civilians from Anzio; arrival in Swansea. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations with LST 403 during Normandy landings, 6/1944: landings on Gold Beach, D-Day, 6/6/1944; work off Omaha and Sword Beaches; POWs embarked on Sword Beach; accident with wire which killed POW and injured Lt. Carpenter; deserters from ship at Harwich, 6/1944; repair and re-fit of ship in Hull after Normandy. Request to leave ship to avoid service in Far East