Description
Object description
British Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) radar operator aboard SS Empire Dynasty in GB coastal waters, South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Sheffield, GB, 1925-1940: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as messenger with Air Raid Precautions in Sheffield, GB, 1940-1943: desire to become involved with civil defence; joining Air Raid Precautions as messenger; participation in educational 'home service'; parent's attitude to his joining Royal Navy, 1943. Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) radar operator aboard SS Empire Dynasty in GB coastal waters, South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1944-1945: initial training at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness and HMS Glendower, Pwllheli and radar operator training at Sherbrooke House, Glasgow, GB, 1943-1944; role radar operator; question of relatively small number of Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship radar operators; conditions on board merchant vessels; accommodation for radar operators.
REEL 2 Continues: living conditions on board including washing clothes; opinion of uniform worn; watch system worked; description of radar tower on ship; operating radar; story of using voice pipe during later service on minesweeper; reasons for doing 'cargo watch' in ship's hold in South Africa and India; relations with dockers in South Africa; dangers of going ashore; seasickness; story of post-war presentation of flag.
REEL 3 Continues: dealing with rough seas in Indian Ocean; calm sea conditions in South Atlantic; initial reaction to seeing Short Sunderland Flying Boats at Bombay, India; sight of 'Lady in White' at Cape Town, South Africa; return to GB for general service, 1945; VE Day in Birkenhead, 8/5/1945; sailors' tattoos; question of girlfriends; ashore in Liverpool; degree of post-war involvement with naval associations; attitude to having served with Royal Navy.