Description
Object description
British radar operator served aboard Empire Lawrence sunk on Arctic Convoy, PQ16, 5/1942; served aboard HMS Illustrious in Indian Ocean and Far East, 1943-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in New Cross, London and Bromley, 1923-1941: family background and social circumstances; move to Bromley, 1927; education; Boys Scouts activities and recreations; work for engineering firms, ca 1938-1939; work as turner at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, ca 1939, including work on guns, piecework system and change to work on cartridges; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; brick air raid shelter in garden; service with Home Guard, ca 1940-1941; German air raids and story of watching raid on East London; question of relocation to Birmingham after bombing of Royal Arsenal; work as roof tiler for building firm; move to work in building trade in Birmingham, ca 1941; demolition work.
REEL 2 Continues: prior failed attempt to join Merchant Navy; background to father's service in RN and Army, 1914-1918; background to joining Royal Navy, 10/1941. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine at HMS Collingwood Shore Station, Fareham, 12/1941-3/1942: kitting out; hut accommodation; drill; food rations; seamanship training; relationship with instructors and recruits; case of bullying; PT. Period at HMS Victory Barracks, Portsmouth, 3/1942-4/1942: volunteering for radar training; conditions of service; hammocks; radar training tracking rockets at Eastleigh Barracks; method of operating 279 and 281 radar sets; recreations in Portsmouth and special friend; qualification as ordinary seaman radar operator.
REEL 3 Continues: draft to serve on DEMS (Defensively equipped merchant ships) based in Liverpool, 4/1941. Recollections of period as acting able seaman radar operator aboard SS Empire Lawrence on PQ 16 to Soviet Union, 4/1942-5/1942: joining ship at Birkenhead; awareness of destination; messdeck; 279 radar set on bridge; sea trials; rendezvous of convoy PQ16 at Reykjavik, Iceland, 5/1942; visit aboard USS Washington; directions on use of radar from SS Ocean Voice; composition of escort; role as loader on Oerlicken gun; problems with radar equipment. Account of sinking during German air attack, ca 27/5/1942: lunch of catapult Hurricane and circumstances by which it was shot down by US ship and ditched in sea; effects of bomb hit; abandoning ship in lifeboat; Stuka attack and effects of explosion of ship; period in sea; attempt to remove boots and duffle coat; floating on hatch; bodies in water; ship's cargo.
REEL 4 Continues: sighting raft with Merchant Marine officer; rescue from sea by trawler escort; effects of cold; overloading of trawler with survivors; transfer to HMS Hyderabad; fatigue; kitting out in makeshift uniform; absence of duties; German air attacks; arrival of more survivors; breaking up of convoy and escort into Murmansk, Soviet Union, Period at Murmansk, 5/1942-7/1943: Landing of survivors; lack of assistance or medical care; hut accommodation; food supplies from ships; German air raids; method of unloading ships in harbour; Soviet anti-aircraft defences; move into barracks; washing facilities; presence of Eddie Grenfell, Eric Worthington, Reg Walker and John Kendrick; food; relationship with Soviet soldiers; cigarettes; Soviet military brothel; Soviet women snipers.
REEL 5 Continues: visit from officer and drawing lots for early return to GB; remaining in barracks awaiting Convoy PQ17; arrival of survivors from PQ17; recreations; voyage aboard Empire Bond to Archangel; school billets; issue of Soviet naval uniforms; food from Soviet police barracks; recreational visits to Archangel including visits to Fleet Club, drinking vodka, cinema newsreels, question of curfew and story of entertaining Soviet women; question of anti-Soviet propaganda; exchanging old uniform items for food at market; question of accuracy of Godfrey Winn's book 'PQ 17' on Soviet treatment of PQ 17 survivors. Voyage aboard HMS Martin to Scapa Flow, 7/1943: diversion to escort US cruiser; interception and sinking of German minesweeper Ulm; German survivors and comparison of German and British lifejackets; reaction to admiral's speech on landing; question of survivor's leave. Periods at Portsmouth and DEMS Liverpool, ca 1942-1943. Period at Cockburnspath radar station, ca 1943: confusion over posting; farm billets; initial lack of duties.
REEL 6 Continues: visits to Dunbar; establishing radar station and night exercises with RAF aircraft; issue of Sten gun; question of official confusion over posting. Recollections of period as radar operator aboard HMS Illustrious, 11/1943-5/1946: story of missing ship at Liverpool; joining ship at Greenock; nature of radar ratings messdeck; hammocks; relaxed discipline and opinion of Captain Cunliffe and Executive Commander Wallace; general messing system, food and role of messmen; harbour routine including allocation of duties and watches; duties on 279 Air Warning radar set in cabin located near funnel.
REEL 7 Continues: method of operating 279 radar receiving set; role of radar mechanics; role in 279 radar transmitting office; operation of watch system; off duty recreations including deck hockey, fishing, sailing, rowing regattas, cinema in aft hangar and ship's bands; reception on joining ship; question of destination on sailing, 12/1943; route via Mediterranean; punishment for gambling at cards; visit ashore at Alexandria; passing through Suez Canal; tropical uniform.
REEL 8 Continues: sunbathing; airless conditions on messdecks; composition of East Indies Fleet; nature of base at Trincomalee, Ceylon; recreational visits ashore to Trincomalee village including swimming, beach bar, beer ration, buying tea and souvenirs and relationship with Ceylonese civilians; nature of fleet exercises; vantage points on carrier 'island' for watching aircrafts taking off and landing; take off and landing procedures for Avenger and Corsair; problem with Corsairs crashing on landing; letter contacts with GB and censorship; lack of news from GB; nature of air strikes on Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies; question of Japanese aircraft following returning strike aircraft.
REEL 9 Continues: action stations role as loader in 4.4" B2 turret; anti-flash protective gear; misfires and disposal of shells; fighter cover over fleet during strike operations and consequent ineffectual nature of Japanese air attacks pursuing strike aircraft; sinking of floating dock; refit at Durban, South Africa; visits ashore including hospitality of South African civilians seeking husbands for daughters, local leave on cattle ranches, shooting guinea fowl and meeting snake hunter; return to base at Trincomalee; resumption of strike operations; question of casualties amongst pilots; transfer of Fleet Air Arm personnel ashore to HMS Highflyer Shore Station when returning to base.
REEL 10 Continues: move to Capetown, SA; strike operations against Sourabaya Island, Duth East Indies, including Japanese air attacks and question of identity of aircraft crashing into stern and consequent damage to propeller shaft; makeshift dry dock repairs at Sydney, Australia; reduced speed and consequent problems for aircraft attempting to land; question of joining US Pacific Fleet and US refusal to supply British Pacific Fkeet; emergency measures to form fleet supply 'train'; identification of new base at Manus, New Gunea; situation in Pacific War; establishing base at Leyte, Phillipines; launching strikes against Japanese island airfields; lack of fresh food due to failure of fleet supply arrangements; threat from Japanese mini-Submarines; nature of kamikaze attacks and close escape, 4/1945; opinion of Captain Lamb; return to Lyete; relief by carrier due to damage suffered; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; question of effectiveness of short range anti-aircraft armament; unloading aircraft at Sydney; celebrations during voyage back to GB; story of duty on incinerator party.
REEL 11 Continues: lengthy dry dock repairs at Rosyth; visits ashore; background to decision to stay with ship and story illustrating contrast of discipline aboard battleships; leave, 7/1945-8/1945; news of VJ Day, 8/1945; motor mechanics vocational training course; weekend leaves; demobilisation parties and fights in dockyard canteen; story of ignoring fighting Australian sailors during shore patrol at Trincomalee; question of singing on as regular and offer of promotion to petty officer. Demobilisation at Chatham, 5/1946: demob suit; prize money. Post-war career: work as railway locomotive fitter; raking course in radio and television repair; work on radar installation and inspection; membership of North Russia Convoy Club and Russian Convoy Club; question of contacts with old shipmates.
