Interview with Dennis John Maxted

British seaman trained at HMS Collingwood, Fareham in GB, 1943; trained with Combined Operations as HMS Pasco, Glenbranter and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, GB, 1943-1944; served aboard LBV 327, Combined Operations in GB coastal waters and in English Channel off Normandy, France, 4/1944-8/1944

REEL 1 Background in Reading, GB, 1925-1943: family; education; story of German Air Force bombing of People's Pantry Restaurant, 10/2/1943; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of training as seaman at HMS Collingwood, Fareham, GB, 1943: enlistment in Royal Navy; naval haircuts; story of recruit who took revenge on service barber; mother's visit with sandwiches and chief petty officer's reaction; gate discipline at camp; story of sailors punished for sending obscene letters to girl; processing of new recruits; persecution of recruit by seaman. Aspects of training with Combined Operations in GB, 1943-1944: landing craft signal training at HMS Pasco, Glenbranter, 1943; nature of landing barge training at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; farming work; character of swimming parties and condom parties; description of Landing Barges Dumb (LBD). REEL 2 Continues: problems handling Landing Barges Dumb (LBD). Aspects of period as seaman aboard Landing Barge Vehicle, LBV 327, Combined Operations in GB coastal waters, 4/1944-6/1944: joining barge at Sheerness, 4/1944; amphibious warfare training at Loch Fyne and Plymouth; use of station cards to register for meals; story of punishment for having two station cards; memories of shipmates at Plymouth; obtaining first 'tiddly suit'; story of inter-service fight in Union Street, Plymouth and destruction of 'tiddly suit'; meeting of future wife in Second World War; question of wartime misuse of trains in Second World War; description of LBV 327 including equipment and facilities; preparations for D-Day landings in Langstone Harbour. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as seaman aboard Landing Barge Vehicle LBV 327, Combined Operations in English Channel off Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: crossing to Sword Beach, D-Day, 6/6/1944; landing supplies on Sword Beach; solution to mystery of missing rum; experience of Great Storm, 19/6/1944-22/6/1944; living conditions; rudder repairs at Courseulles-sur-Mer, 6/1944; amusing incident of shipmate's panic over soaking in jam; collection of German shrapnel for intelligence investigation, 6/1944; exchanges between rocket ships and German 88mm Guns ashore, 6/1944; souvenir taken from HMS Dragon; punishment stockade on Gold Beach; danger from German booby-traps; loss of craft in storm, 7/1944; period ashore in Normandy, 8/1944. Aspects of period on shore duties in GB, 1944-1945: return to GB, 8/1944; shore duties in GB, 1944-1945. REEL 4 Continues: story of treatment of knee injury at HMS Medina; role escorting Royal Navy prisoner to Glasgow. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Duchess of Richmond from GB to Egypt, 1945: manhandling of homosexual aboard; catching crab lice. Aspects of period of hospitalisation in Geneifa, Egypt, 1945: recurrence of knee problem; treatment for knee; other patient's injuries; destruction of hospital recreational facilities by West Africans; German prisoners of war; fellow patient who fractured skull as dispatch rider; drafting to LCT 1066 in Suez Canal, Egypt. Aspects of period as seaman with LCT 1309 in Far East, 1945-1946: damage craft inflicted on HMT Monarch of Bermuda; supplying Singapore, Malaya, autumn 1945; work transporting ex-internees and Japanese prisoners of war; voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Philippines aboard LCH 248; return to GB, 1946. REEL 5 Continues: description of Landing Barges in Second World War and role of Landing Barge Kitchens.