Male, George (Oral history)

British petty officer served as sick berth attendant aboard HMS Hecla based in Iceland, 1941-1942 including sinking off Gibraltar, 11/11/1942; served on shore duties in hospitals in GB, 1943-1946

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Plymouth, 1919-1939: family background and social circumstances; education; sporting activities; membership of Cooperative Society including dividend system, educational classes, winning awards, attending summer schools, political activities in support of Labour Party candidates and for Cooperative Party; work on telephone switchboard and post room of Medical Office of Health, Plymouth Council, 1936; wok as clerk at City Hospital, Plymouth, 1936-1939, including duties in medical records, developing interest in medicine, participation in demonstration of converted bus ambulance and role ordering equipment for emergency hospitals on approach of war; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; installation of Anderson shelter; failed attempt to volunteer for Royal Army Medical Corps. REEL 2 Continues: question of reserved occupation status; background to volunteering as operating theatre and sick berth attendant with Royal Navy, 11/1939. Recollections of period at HMS Drake Barracks and Stonehouse Hospital, Plymouth, 11/1939-1/1940: reception and kitting out; pay; reception from naval padre on reporting to operating theatre at Stonehouse Hospital; lack of training; duties sterilising operating equipment; daily routine; pre-operation preparation of patients; use of esmarch bandage to drain blood from leg; absence of training. Recollections of period as sick berth attendant at HMS Raleigh Shore Station, Torpoint, Plymouth, 1/1940-6/1941: lack of duties; hut accommodation; relationship with recruits; first aid and general nursing classes; use of manuals; move into sick quarters. REEL 3 Continues: nature of patients treated; cases of tonsillectomy and severed thumb; effects of German air raids including direct hit on shelter, duty evacuating patients to secure accommodation and story of close escape while fitting stand pipe; qualification and promotion as leading hand sick bay attendant; draft. Voyage aboard Royal Ulsterman to Reykjavik, Iceland, 6/1941. Recollections of period as sick berth and operating theatre leading hand aboard HMS Hecla, 6/1941-11/1942: joining ship at Hvalfjord; nature of ship as destroyer depot ship; reception; nature of sick bay including beds, VD treatment room, sluice room and bathroom; nature of operating theatre; sick bay messroom and cots; relationship with doctors, chief petty officer and petty officer; nicknames. REEL 4 Continues: question of use of operating theatre for outpatient dressings and introduction of new dressing arrangements; preparations for rounds by medical officers and captain; overnight care of patients in sick bay; routine duties and nature of patients attended; rum ration and use as currency; food; cocoa; role assisting in operations illustrated by appendectomy; promotion to petty officer; visits ashore to Hvalfjord canteen and story of meeting brother. REEL 5 Continues: cutting officers' hair; story of complaint to captain over mail left unsealed after censorship; capture of German U Boat and question of souvenirs removed from submarine; contact with casualties from Lofoten Island raid; refit at Dunbarton, 3/1942; leave and question of swearing; voyage in convoy to Freetown, Sierra Leone, 4/1942; anti-aircraft practice against towed drogue; contacts with Sierra Leon civilians during visit ashore at Freetown; voyage to Capetown, South Africa, 5/1942; effects of striking mine off Cape of Good Hope, 15/5/1942. REEL 6 Continues: duties in sick bay after being mined, 15/5/1942, including treatment of severe head injury and story of fetching surgical spirit from inflammable goods store; detachment to assist at Simonstown hospital; hospitality of South African civilians; story of dog 'Just Nuisance' attached to RN ships; damage to ship; voyage into Mediterranean, 10/1942-11/1942. Account of sinking of HMS Hecla and rescue by HMS Venomous off Gibraltar, 11/11/1942: torpedo strike; treatment of burns victims; further torpedo hit; search for survivors prior to abandoning ship; actions of HMS Venomous and Marne; story of Master of Arms; torpedoing of HMS Marne and consequent detonation of depth charges and ammunition; clinging onto and boarding Carley float; clothes worn; sea conditions; lifebelts; rescue by HMS Venomous; rescue role of Herbert Button; physical condition following rescue; shortage of fuel; arrival at Casablanca, 13/11/1942; treatment aboard USS Augusta; situation aboard HMS Venomous. REEL 7 Continues: treatment aboard aircraft carrier and return to HMS Venomous; burials at sea; movements between various ships at Gibraltar. Voyage aboard Reina de Pacifico to GB, 11/1942: conditions; complaints over assignment to sick bay duties. Period at Drake Barracks, 11/1942-1/1943: re-equipment; visit home; question of compensation for watch; survivors leave; question of effect of experiences. Period at Stonehouse Hospital, Plymouth, ca 1/1943-3/1943: reactions to German air raid; routine duties. Period on at Gairloch and Aultbea Hospitals, 3/1943-11/1945: stories of providing hospital facilities for civilians; incompetent senior surgeon; stories of treating injured soldiers; Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1943; story of rescue of casualty from mountain training; story of treatment and subsequent death from exposure of confused merchant seamen; recreational sailing dinghy. REEL 8 Continues: recreational sailing dinghy and fishing activities; relationship with civilians; personnel; sterilising without electric power; closure of hospital and move to Alt Bay, 1945; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; detonation of boom minefield and stunned fish resulting. Demobilisation, 1/1946. Post-war career: question of remaining in RN; return to work as hospital accountant for Medical Office of Health, Plymouth Council, 1946; training and career as sanitary and public health inspector; question of effect and value of war experiences; role in inspection of meat; membership of HMS Hecla Assoc, RN Assoc and RN Medical and Sick Bay Attendants Assoc.