Description
Object description
British midshipman served aboard HMS Gazelle, 40th Minesweeping Flotilla in GB coastal waters, during Normandy landings and in Atlantic, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Paddington and Wembley, London, GB, 1924-1943: family; education; degree of awareness of political situation in Europe; employment; role as Air Raid Precaution warden and public morale; degree of awareness of effects of German Air Force raids. Aspects of enlistment and training as seaman with Royal Navy in GB and aboard HMS London in Atlantic, 1943-1944: joining University Naval Division at Cardiff University for six month course; training at HMS Ganges, Shotley; character of instructor.
REEL 2 Continues: drafting to HMS London for sea training in Atlantic; sleeping in hammock; mess relations; duties in cordite handling room; treatment received aboard ship; smell of mess deck; return passage aboard HMS Belfast from Iceland to GB; painting side of HMS London; drafting to HMS King Alfred for officer training; need to learn to swim; status of Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve cadets at HMS King Alfred.
REEL 3 Continues: demand for junior naval officers; nature of training; anti-submarine training in Scotland. Recollections of operations as midshipman and officer aboard HMS Gazelle, 40th Minesweeping Flotilla in GB coastal waters, during Normandy landings and Atlantic, 1944-1945: character of fleet minesweepers; fitting out of minesweeper to Royal Navy standards; role as navigation officer; proposed role in Normandy landings; opinion of commanding officer; duties as mess officer; amusing story of drinking Bovril; methods of sweeping for mines.
REEL 4 Continues: escorting HMS Warspite, D-Day, 6/6/1944; minesweeping duties on Normandy coast; meeting future wife during brief leave in Devonport; further details of minesweeping activities; minesweeping in North Sea, 1945; ship's crews; further details of meeting wife in Devonport; VE Day celebrations, 5/1945; attitude to role and degree of danger experienced; work in Atlantic after end of war; attitude of Icelanders to Royal Navy personnel; situation in Norway, 5/1945.
REEL 5 Continues: demobilisation process and return to civilian life, 1946; division of labour during minesweeping duties.