Interview with Brian Butler

British boy seaman served aboard HMS Belfast, 10th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic, Arctic and English Channel during Normandy Landings, 12/1942-8/1944; seaman served aboard HMS Matchless, 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 1944-1946

REEL 1 Background in the Ryde, Isle of Wight, GB, 1926-1939: family service with Royal Navy. Aspects of period as schoolboy at Royal Hospital School, Ipswich, 1939-1942: reasons for joining Royal Navy; character of education at Royal Hospital School, 1939-1942, including naval training; uniform worn; discipline; degree of food available; recreational activities; wartime restrictions on Isle of Wight. Aspects of period as boy seaman during training at HMS St George, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1942: issue of kit and uniform; recreational activities; sleeping arrangements; availability of rations; pay; effect of being allowed to smoke; character of training. REEL 2 Continues: seamanship training; house system; discipline and punishments; contact with home; attitude to enlisting into Royal Navy. Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Belfast, 10th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic, Arctic and English Channel during Normandy Landings, 12/1942-8/1944: drafting to cruiser, 12/1942; initial impressions of ship; character of boy seaman's mess deck; sleeping in hammock; eating arrangements in mess; adjusting to life on board; duties as boy seaman; action station in A Turret; explanation of term 'setting the pointers'; method of reaching cruising station during bad weather; patrolling in North Atlantic and off Norway; role escorting HMT Queen Mary; weather conditions and clothing worn during Arctic convoys, 1943; icing of ship in Arctic; seasickness. REEL 3 Continues: start of Battle of North Cape, 26/12/1943; use of star shell to illuminate German battleship Scharnhorst; hearing of B Turret's hit on German battleship Scharnhorst; atmosphere in turret; lack of knowledge of battle plan; fate of German battleship Scharnhorst during Battle of North Cape, 26/12/1943; conditions inside turret in Arctic; ashore in Iceland; loss of Royal Marines officer in Faroe Islands; lack of contact with officers on board; steering ship; recreational activities ashore at Scapa Flow; washing facilities; religious services; discipline and punishments; HMS Belfast's nickname 'The Tiddly B'; reasons why ship was a happy ship; memories of Lieutenant Ronald Howard; contact with family; censorship of letters. REEL 4 Continues: sailing from Scotland to Isle of Wight, 6/1944; reaction to hearing of objective; sight of invasion armada dawn, D-Day, 6/6/1944; taking up position off beaches and start of shore bombardment, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944; sight of landing craft going in to beaches; duties at action station during D-Day, 6/6/1944; direction of fire from shore; sight of rocket firing landing craft firing inland; shell hit in church spire; German Air Force attack; overnight leave during re-arming at Ryde, Isle of Wight during Normandy Campaign; return to HMNB Rosyth and leaving ship, 8/1944; drafting to Fort Southwick, GB. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Matchless, 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 1944-1946: drafting to destroyer, 12/1944; firing on railway line between France and Italy; picking up body of Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire pilot in Gulf of Genoa; character of Medlock Run from Naples; ashore in Naples and Malta; VE celebrations, 8/5/1945; memories of captain Lieutenant Commander Sir Standish Roche and his interests in volcanoes; role of ship as junior ship; canteen messing on board; action station on Number 2 Gun in A Turret; role intercepting Jewish illegal immigrant ships on Palestine Patrol; precautions against limpet mines in Haifa harbour. REEL 5 Continues: Royal Navy's patrolling coast of Palestine; return to Portsmouth, GB, 1946. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Sirius, 1946-1947: duties; contrast between wartime and peacetime Royal Navy; living conditions on board; promotion to leading seaman; role looking after mess; messing facilities; rum ration; reasons for discharge from Royal Navy, 1948; demobilisation process, 1948; adjusting to civilian life and post-war career as barber. Reflections on service with Royal Navy: protective gear issued during service with Royal Navy; reinstatement of pension; attitude to having served in Royal Navy.