Description
Object description
British seaman served as DEMS gunner aboard MV Lovetto in Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1942; served aboard HMS Mourne in Atlantic, 1942-1943; officer served aboard LCT 1094, 45th Flotilla, Combined Operations in GB coastal waters and Normandy, 1944; commanded LCT 1133, 22nd Flotilla, Combined Operations at Walcheren, Netherlands, 1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Exeter, GB, 1923-1942: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB, 1942: background to volunteering; arrival at HMS Raleigh; basic training; instructors; crowded conditions in barracks at Devonport; Royal visit to Plymouth; duties as messenger at St Budo; drafting to HMS Wellesley in Liverpool for DEMS gunnery course; gunnery training; background to allocation to MV Lovetto. Aspects of operations as DEMS gunner aboard MV Lovetto in Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1942: ships crew; seasickness during first voyage from GB to Middle East via South Africa; ashore in Cape Town.
REEL 2 Continues: sleeping through torpedoing of Queen Anne; ashore in Uruguay and Brazil; return to Glasgow and joining Y Scheme. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Mourne in Atlantic, 1942-1943: duties in Atlantic; picking up crew of landing craft. Aspects of officer training at HMS King Alfred, Hove, GB, 1944: drafting for officer training; officer training; disappointment of failed candidates; passing out as sub-lieutenant. Recollections of operations as officer with LCT 1094, 45th Flotilla, Combined Operations in GB coastal waters and Normandy, 1944: duties; method of beaching landing craft on beaches; crew of landing crew; accommodation on board.
REEL 3 Continues: pre-D-Day exercise; wife's knowledge of D-Day landings; loading Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineer Churchill tank on board; last run ashore; Royal Engineers on board; voyage from GB to Normandy; beach landing on D-Day, 6/6/1944; return to Newhaven and into dry dock at Portsmouth; runs to Normandy, 6/1944; damage to landing craft from submerged wreck; work of beachmaster; transporting German POWs to Southampton.
REEL 4 Continues: use of landing craft to protect HMS Rodney; crew relations. Aspects of operations commanding LCT 1133, 22nd Flotilla, Combined Operations in North West Europe, 1944: appointment to command LCT 1133; crew; embarking 42 Commando, Royal Marines on board; landings at Walcheren, Netherlands; wounding in cabin; mining of landing craft and sinking after landings; hospitalisation in Ostend and award of Distinguished Service Cross. Aspects of period with Royal Navy in GB, 1945-1946: appointment to LCT 864; VE Day celebrations in Southampton; reaction to not being sent to Far East; training duties at HMS Royal Arthur; question of staying on in Royal Navy.
REEL 5 Continues: reaction to award of Distinguished Service Cross; demobilisation, 1946; return to civilian life; attitude to having served with Royal Navy during Second World War. Impressions of commandoes of 42 Commando, Royal Marines at Walcheren. Attitude to prospect of participation in Far East conflict.