Interview with Richard Frank Green

British seaman served aboard HMS Hasty, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, Norway and Mediterranean, 9/1939-7/1941; served aboard HMS Castleton, 17th Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, 1942-1943; petty officer served aboard HMS Bligh, 5th Escort Group in North Atlantic, English Channel during landings in Normandy, France and Arctic, 9/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Shrewsbury, GB, 1919-1938: family; education. Aspects enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB and Malta, 1938-1939: enlistment in Royal Navy at Bristol, 1938; training at HMS Drake, Devonport; voyage aboard HMT Somersetshire from GB to Malta; behaviour of Maltese civilians towards Royal Naval personnel on Malta; duties as torpedo pilot. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Hasty, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, Norway and Mediterranean, 1939-1941: transfer of HMS Hasty based at Freetown, Sierra Leone on declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; impressions of commanding officer; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; escorting HMS Exeter back to Plymouth after Battle of River Plate, 12/1939; visit of Prime Minster Winston Churchill to Plymouth; involvement in campaign in Norway, 4/1940-5/1940; operations with Mediterranean Fleet in Eastern Mediterranean; involvement in Battle of Matapan, 27/3/1941-29/3/1941; operations off Crete, Greece, 5/1941; return to GB, 7/1941. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Castleton, 17th Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, 1942-1943: escorting HMT Queen Mary; sinking of German submarine U-464 in North Atlantic, 20/8/1942; duties as leading seaman; return to GB, 1943; training at HMS Defiance, Devonport, 1943. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Bligh, 5th Escort Group in North Atlantic, Arctic and English Channel during landings in Normandy, France, 9/1943-5/1945: joining frigate in United States of America; convoy duty in North Atlantic; impressions of and involvement in landings in Normandy, France; bombardment of German fortifications on Channel Islands; involvement in convoys in Arctic; return to Belfast, Northern Ireland; reaction to VE Day, 8/5/1945; memories of friends killed during wartime service. Post-war life and employment: employment; demobilisation. Reflections on service with Royal Navy, 1939-1945: promotion to petty officer; conditions on board vessels; duties; experience of boarding German submarine; impressions of German Navy personnel.