Newsletter 3/2003 – july (The photographs are all shown on the ‘reunions’ page of the Website)
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- Navigate this page:
- Membership Matters Peggy Miller
- Now, what about the rest of you
- Commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of the end of hostilities in the Korean War
- Remembrance Day Parade 2003
- Can you help 1.
- 1940 - The Battles for Norway
- PETER DAY ROYAL NAVY 1938 - 1967 (The conclusion)
- TRIBUTE
| NEWSLETTER 3/2003 – JULY
(The photographs are all shown on the ‘REUNIONS’ page of the Website) Due to Admiral Eberle's busy schedule we've been unable to get his message to members in time for this newsletter. We hope we'll have it for the next. Now, from our Chairman, Shipmate George Toomey Shipmates, With the 2003 reunion now 3 months down stream we have of course already turned to planning for the next. Having other business in Eastbourne I went down there in June for 2 days to (a) talk about prices for next year; (b) make representations about the lack of cooling in the dining room and problems with the lift; and (c) to try to sort out some kind of manning for the car park. The deal that has been struck with Chris Dean, the Manager of the Burlington Hotel, is I think a good as we could expect and only a slight increase on the prices we paid this year. I won't go into the details now - they will be published in a later newsletter together with the rest of the arrangements for the next reunion. On my first day there, Chris Dean had been away at a meeting and I took the opportunity to meet up with the hotel maintenance man and look at the air conditioning equipment and overhead fans. I was able to trace some faults in the fan switches and other shortcomings. The following day when I met up with Chris he gave me full details of their maintenance programme for this year and it will include updating of the cooling system and overhead fans. This should make a tremendous difference to the cooling of the dining room. The lifts too are to be updated as required. We will make a visit to the hotel in January or February to check on progress made. I also mentioned that the outside flood lights were also left on all night while we were there which made sleeping a bit difficult for some of those at the front of the hotel. This was subsequently traced to a faulty timer switch. The Manager was grateful for having it brought to his attention. The breakdown of the keyboard player's equipment on the Saturday evening was evidently the first time this had ever happened. The music that evening was saved by the assistant manager hooking up a disc player. However, the Manager said that he was looking into supplying a stand-by unit just in case it ever happened again. Can't ask for more! As you may remember, I exhausted myself trying to look after the car parking at the reunion this year and, although there was the odd member or two who said they'd take a turn, actually being able to make up a rota proved impossible. We are all getting on in years and it was therefore decided that it might be a better idea to hire an attendant. With that in mind and with the help of Dave Hawkes, one of our Associate members who lives at Eastbourne, who collected me by car from the hotel, I made the rounds of a number of agencies to try to hire a car park attendant for the Friday and Saturday of our next reunion. Except to find that it would cost about £160 plus insurance, food, clothing and tax, we did not really come to any conclusion. The persons who would be supplied would be just someone they'd pick up off the streets which doesn't say a lot. We'll discuss it again with Chris Dean at the beginning of next year. Peter Harrison and I both seem to have had the same thought about an alternative. We wondered whether anyone of our members who will be attending the next reunion has say a grandson or nephew of, say, about 17 or 18 years of age, who would like to take on this car parking task. It would be a chance to earn a bit of money, and get free accommodation and food for the weekend. I hope I won't be accused of being sexist but I think this would be more suited to a young man than to a young woman. However, I'm open to persuasion. Please let me know if you have someone in mind who would be willing to take it on. By the way Shipmate Eddie Gillam has undertaken to make an opening barrier (a pole which lifts up and down) for the car park. Well done Eddie. Another item which I discussed with the Hotel Manager was that of the supply of food for the Sunday buffet. This year there was a bit of a problem in that some members found that all the food had gone by the time they got to the table. The main cause we think was that some of the Pipe Band members had brought their families along too, and although the hotel had catered for the band to have a snack they had not catered for families too. I hope that our members did not stock up for snacks on their way home! Anyway, Chris Dean told me that he will increase the amount of food issued, that staff will be on hand to serve the food and possibly have it done by ticket as other hotels do. I also asked if there could be a supply of ready-made filled rolls and sandwiches at the bar at lunch times on the Friday and Saturday. A number of our members had asked for this since they have had to wait for each individual order to be requested from the kitchen and then brought to the bar when ready. The Manager said he would look into it. As you can see, we continue to work through the year to try to ensure that your reunion is as comfortable as possible. George _____________________________________________________________________ Membership Matters Peggy Miller It is very sad to have to report the passing of Peggy Miller, wife of William (Dusty) Miller (D57 1958-59). Peggy had been, with Dusty, a regular at our reunions and I'm sure that nobody who also attended would forget her happy disposition and enthusiasm despite having suffered from very disabling arthritis. She was an Associate member in her own right and a shining example to us all of how to get on with life despite the problems that can arise on the way. Peggy and Dusty were enjoying a barbecue with friends on the evening of Saturday 5th July when she became unwell. An ambulance was called but she died on the way to hospital of what is now known to have been a ruptured aorta. Our sincere sympathies and condolences go to Dusty. The funeral will take place at the Medway Crematorium, Robin Hood Lane (Upper), Chatham, Kent on Tuesday 22nd July. Dusty has asked that there should only be flowers from members of the family but donations to the Royal British Legion would be appreciated in Pegg's memory. Refreshments will be available afterwards at the Sans Pareil public house at the top of Frindsbury Hill, up from Strood on the road via Wainscott to Grain. Just before our last newsletter went to print we had a report of our Shipmate Ernie Williams having passed over the bar. The funeral took place at the Old Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Darlaston on Friday 23rd May 2003 and was attended by Shipmates Peter Hampstead, Ron Handford and Bernard Colechin. Bernard reported that it was an impressive service with Standards from the RNA West Bromwich branch flanking the coffin which was covered by our White Ensign. Many members of the West Bromwich RNA, of which Ernie was a member, turned out to pay their last respects. There were many floral trubutes including one which was in the shape of an anchor in the colours of his favourite football club West Bromwich Albion. Our thanks and condolences must go to Mrs. Iris Williams, her husband and family who had been Ernie's surrogate family for the last 40 years. ____________________
____________________ Outstanding Subscriptions Despite attaching notes to the front of their newsletters some 24 members have still not paid their subscriptions for 2003/04. A final note will be attached to this newsletter for those still outstanding and no more newsletters will be sent after that until payment has been received. If you are one of those 24, please send in your subscription now or let the Secretary, Peter Harrison, know why you can't pay, or that you do not wish to remain a member. ____________________ Membership One of the Associate members whose subscription was outstanding at the time of the last newsletter has declined to continue his membership. However, we have two new Associate members since the last newsletter. The first is Mrs. Jan Hennell from Orchard Hill, New South Wales, Australia. She is George Toomey's niece and George hopes that she will be able to do some recruiting for us through the RSL (Returned Servicemens League) organisation there in Oz. The second is Mrs. June Harver whose cousin Cook Arthur Walker died on 23rd October 1941 when L03 was torpedoed. Welcome to you both. Current membership stands at 279 made up as follows: 167 D57 members 28 L03 members 78 Associate members 6 Honorary members _____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________ Remembrance Day Parade 2003 In the last newsletter we asked for members to let the Secretary know if they wished to take part in this year's Remembrance Day Parade at the Cenotaph in November. In order to have a separate Cossack contingent at least 10 are needed. So far only 2 names have been received. It is regretted that unless there is a very rapid additional response now, no application for tickets will be made to the Royal British Legion this year. Please let the Secretary, Peter Harrison, know as soon as possible, and not later than 31st July, if you wish to take part. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Reunion 2004 Don't forget the dates for next year's reunion. It will be held on the weekend 23rd/24th/25th April. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Can you help? 1. Mrs. Betty Gilham who has asked for a membership application form to join as an Associate member has asked whether anyone can remind her of the name of the band which played in HMS Terror at the weekends during her time there. Betty was one of the lucky ones who were able to join their husbands during Cossack's long refit. She tells us that she is pictured in the 1954-55 Cossack year book. The picture shows two babies being christened with the ship's bell being used as a font. Let us know if you remember the band, Betty, the christening, or anything else of interest. ____________________ 2. Don Lee who was serving aboard the USS Jason in Sasebo, Japan in 1957/58 and worked as an EM3 on Cossack (D57) which was moored alongside. He remembers going down to the messdecks, which were so different from those aboard his own ship, and saw the main power board in the engine room. He was given an HMS Cossack cap tally, which is still proudly displayed at his home. He was very interested to see our web site recently. Does anyone remember being alongside the Jason? More importantly, were you the one who gave Don the cap tally? You can contact Do direct by e-mail Donjenlee@aol.com or let Peter Harrison know. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 1940 - The Battles for Norway By co-incidence, just as I was re-reading "Narvik" by Captain Donald Macintyre, DSO**,DSC,RN a letter arrived with a couple of photo-copies of some pictures published in the Daily Sketch of 29th April 1940. Captain Macintyre's book not only describes the two battles of Narvik but also goes through the operations to try to defend Norway against German occupation and then final evacuation in the face of overwhelming air superiority by Stuka dive bombers. He describes how in the aftermath of the 2nd Battle of Narvik, in which Cossack was heavily involved, survivors of HMS Hardy which was sunk in the 1st Battle together with a number of British merchant seamen, were picked up by the destroyer Ivanhoe. The merchant seamen had come from a number of ships which had been in the area when the Germans occupied Narvik and had been incarcerated in the British ship North Cornwall which was used as a prison. During the battle they had managed to make their escape and make their way to the village of Ballangen where they joined the Hardy's survivors. A See ‘REUNIONS’ nyway, the point of this story is that the photographs came from David Kendall in Australia. Dave served in D57 as an A.B. 1952-54. One photograph was of the Hardy survivors and the other, reproduced below is of the released merchant navy men. The person front left in the photograph is Dave Kendall's father! Ceremonies to dedicate a new memorial at Narvik to commemorate wartime operations there were to have been held there in May this year but were postponed because of the situation in Iraq. However, we have just been told that they will now take place on 2nd September. The authorities there are keen to have some veterans of the battles there to take part and we have been asked whether any of our members would like to be there. Cossack (L03)'s part in the 2nd Battle of Narvik is well documented and members of her ship's company at that time are more than qualified to take part. Although it is likely that accommodation will be found there, the cost of travel would have to be borne by those attending. Anyone wishing to attend should let the Secretary, Peter Harrison, know as soon as possible. ___________________________________________________________________________________ In the last newsletter we left Peter Day's story about his life in the R.N. with him having just having joined HMS GLORY. The final episode follows. PETER DAY ROYAL NAVY 1938 - 1967 (The conclusion) On 17th Dec 1950 I was appointed to H.M.S. Glory (Aircraft Carrier) as ABCD Officer and joined the ship at Plymouth. We all knew that we were off to the Far East during the Korean War. We completed three periods of six months each with flying operations over Korea, with our base for fuel and stores in either Sasebo or Kure (both Japan). I believe it was during our second period of flying that we had a very unfortunate problem onboard. I mention no names on purpose, but we were at sea for flying operations off Korea. During these periods at sea we had on watch on the Bridge a Lieut Cdr as Principal Control Officer (P.C.O.) and of course the usual Officer of the Watch (O.O.W.), an Officer of Lieut or possibly Sub Lieuts rank. On one occasion the Captain, who was on the Bridge sitting in his chair, said very loudly and a number of times to the O.O.W., “Get into Station, you’re out of station”. Everyone knew that the four destroyers on the screen kept station on the Carrier, not the Carrier keeping station on the screen. During the Watch, this attitude of the Captain was reported to the Commander who came up to the Bridge and saw the situation for himself. He then consulted the Surgeon Commander and they both decided that the Captain had been affected by the strain of flying operations in a war situation. They had him removed from the Bridge to his cabin aft and the P.C.O instead of being on the Bridge, had a chair outside the Captain’s cabin aft with instructions to keep him in his cabin - not a very easy job if he insisted on coming out. The poor R.M. Keyboard sentry in the flat outside the Captain’s cabin couldn’t possibly be given that responsibility. Anyway the outcome was that the Captain was flown home to U.K. from at sea off Korea via Singapore and the Commander took temporary command, presumably with the authority of the Admiralty. Before very long, a replacement Captain was flown out. It could be compared with the “Mutiny on the Bounty” when Fletcher Christian took command of the ship Bounty. Anyway it all worked out alright in the end. In between our three operational periods, we had two welcome breaks, the first to Sydney (New South Wales) where we had a short refit in Sydney Dockyard. During this time we were greatly entertained by the locals, including a week’s leave which I spent on a farm about 30 miles inland from Sydney. Also before we left the area to return to the waters off Korea, we had a splendid dance onboard; the whole of the aircraft hanger area, below the flight deck, was cleared for dancing and entertainment with a number of bars, including a champagne and oyster bar, and a wooden dance floor. The for’ard lift well was filled with water, to represent Sydney harbour and a wooden bridge constructed over it to represent Sydney Harbour Bridge. As so often on these special occasions I was Duty Boy that night but still managed to invite some private guests of my own including John and Lucy McGhee who were old friends from Scotland of Betty, my wife, when she was a girl. The second welcome break was when the ship came back to Malta. Betty came out to join me for a month in Malta and we stayed at the Meadowbank Hotel in Sliema. It was a great four weeks, the hotel a bit basic but there were many parties and festivities. Then it was back to the Far East for our final flying period and we were on our way home at last. We had reached Singapore when the Coronation Review took place at Spithead (Portsmouth), but Singapore put on a fine display of lights and fireworks including the Chinese Dragon, built on 10 barges which were towed round the harbour. Between Gibraltar and Portsmouth we had a draw amongst the Lieut Cdrs to decide who was going to be Duty Commanding Officer the first night in. The unfortunate chap was the Navigating Officer. However just before we reached Portsmouth he was promoted to Commander and said he wasn’t going to be duty, so we had to have another draw and I won (or lost) this time. Anyway we were living in Fareham at that time so Betty was able to come onboard to have supper with me. I was a bit fed up as I was the longest serving Officer in the ship. I left the ship in July 1953. Our second son, Colin, was born on 24th March 1950, so he was nine months old when I sailed away in Glory. The evening I left I said to Kenneth, then aged 4, that as I was going away he would be the ‘man of the family’ and have to look after Mummy and Colin. I was told later that when Betty went to bed, there was the patter of little feet and Kenneth appeared in her bedroom with his pillow under his arm. He explained that Daddy said he was the man of the family and the man of the family sleeps in Mummy’s bed!! He was directed firmly back to his own bed. My time in Glory was followed by 2 years from Oct 53 to Oct 55 at H.M.S.Daedalus, the Naval Air Station and Fleet Air Arm Barracks at Lee on Solent. Here I was a Divisional Officer and Passive Defence Officer which meant I was in charge of the AB and C Defence of the whole airfield and barracks area. There is little to report on this period and on the 20th October 1955 I was given command of H.M.S. Coll (an Island Class Trawler which had been converted to be a tank cleaning vessel) based at Portsmouth. The complement was 1 Officer and 25 Ship’s Company. This entailed cleaning the oil fuel tanks and bilges of H.M Ships, from the Royal Yacht downwards. When we were required in other ports, such as Chatham, Devonport or Rosyth, I would borrow an Officer, usually a Warrant Officer, from Reserve Fleet, Portsmouth to assist with watchkeeping on passage, I had my cabin (en-suite), a small wardroom and a first class Ship’s Company. It was a filthy dirty job and usually we worked straight through from 8.00 am to 3 pm, then cleaned up and had lunch followed by shore leave. The duty watch remained onboard with a Petty Officer in charge. We worked hard, five days a week, and it was a matter of going straight from one ship to the next. At one stage in Portsmouth we cleaned the tanks of the Royal Yacht Britannia. They were so proud of their paintwork and decks that we were provided with gym shoes and had to walk on canvas to get to the tanks in the bottom of the ship, and not to touch the bulkheads. On one occasion I was asked up the Wardroom for a drink and the following day I invited the Commander and the Commander (E) across to Coll for a glass of gin. I then found that I hadn’t got a water jug, so one of them went back to Britannia and pinched a glass jug out of their Wardroom. I’ve still got that jug which I call my Royal water jug though it hasn’t got the Royal cipher on it. On another occasion we cleaned the tanks and bilges of the cruiser Gambia up in Rosyth, which took about three weeks. On 3rd October 1956 I left Coll, the ship was handed over to Dockyard Control and I was given one month as C.O. of H.M.S. Melita (an Algerine Class Minesweeper), joining on 7th Oct, only four days later, to carry out post refit trials at Immingham on the south side of the River Humber near the mouth. This river runs very fast in and out with the tide and the entrance to Immingham Dock is narrow. It is important to nose the ship in well above the dock entrance (if the tide is running out) and the bow into calm water. Then the stern will swing round and, if judged correctly, the ship will be in the dock gates before the stem swings too far! It was a very pleasant month, living onboard duty free, 3 Officers and myself and a Ship’s Company of about 25. At sea five days a week, exercising and trials, and before we left we gave two big drinks parties, one for the senior management and one for the foremen and chargemen of the firm. Next, I had two years and six months, Dec 1956 to May 1959 as Commanding Officer of H.M.S. Mediator (a Bustler Class Ocean Rescue Tug) in the Mediterranean. Our complement was 5 Officers, 4 R.N. Senior Rates, a Signalman, a Telegraphist and 40 Maltese crew. This was to be Local Foreign Service based on Malta, so Betty and Colin were able to accompany me, except that Betty and I flew out to Malta in separate aircraft. Ken unfortunately had to be left at boarding school but would fly out for the holidays. This was at the time of the Suez Crisis and my ship Mediator was down at Port Said. I flew out to Malta in a service flight, from there straight on to Cyprus (without seeing Betty in Malta), and then on to Port Said to join Mediator. Betty and Colin flew out to Malta British Airways, and although we landed very much at the same time we weren’t able to meet. Fortunately we had some very good friends at the R.N.Air Station, Halfar. Commander and Mrs R.C.Allen, who put them both up while Betty searched for accommodation, and Colin was enrolled at the junior Naval School. We, the ship, weren’t delayed too long at Port Said and we returned to Malta when Betty and Colin were safely installed in a flat in Gunlayer Square, Valetta, up on the top floor and 95 stairs from ground level (no lift) , overlooking Grand Harbour where Mediator berthed. So life went on very pleasantly. Our main job was towing Battle Practice Targets for the ships of the Med. Fleet. On one occasion I had to haul down the Black Flag (which was the permission to fire) because the first salvo of 6 inch shells from a cruiser (who shall be nameless) were landing ahead of my towing ship, whereas the target was half a mile astern! On another occasion the U.S Battleship Iowa was firing at our target, again half a mile astern of us, with its 15” guns. This was very impressive because each turret produced a different coloured smoke from its guns, red, white and blue. It was very good shooting, so much so that not only was the target hit a number of times but a shell must have severed the towing wire and suddenly the target was adrift. That was the end of the shooting for the day but we had to recover the target. There was quite a sea running and I had to manoeuvre the Mediator stern first (with a single screw) up to the target so that one of my lads could jump from our stern down on to it. These Battle Practice Targets were about 30 feet long, very low in the water, very heavy and built with superstructure all made of wood and canvas so that they could be seen from a long distance away. We also did various towing jobs, such as when the destroyer Undaunted (we called her the Indented) managed to run into the wooden minesweeper Maxton and came off worst herself. We had to tow the Undaunted stern first from Cyprus back to Malta over Christmas. She did pass over to us by heaving line a bottle of whisky in part payment! We also towed the Manxman (Fast Minelayer) from Malta to Gibraltar (I mentioned her earlier in 1941), a Lifting Craft from Malta through the Suez Canal to Aden and a Search and Rescue Operation for a small Italian ship which sent out an S.O.S. This signal came through very early in the morning and we sailed as soon as possible with all the Officers onboard but only two thirds of the ships company. The Naval Provost Marshal kept a list of the addresses of all the Officers and ship’s company so that, providing they were at home at night, they could be contacted. Because we were the first to arrive in the reported position which was thirty miles south of Malta, we became Officer in Charge of the Search and we were later joined by two coastal minesweepers and the Aircraft Carrier Centaur. We searched all day, including aircraft from the Centaur, and were about to give up for the night as it was getting dark, when my First Lieut thought he saw something in the distance. We immediately altered course to investigate and found it was a small boat with six occupants, of whom one had died shortly before. We reported the discovery by signal to C-in-C Med at Malta, took them onboard and returned to harbour at our best speed. The boat had been adrift having run out of fuel and was a long way from the reported position. The vessel had been overcome by the sea and the Captain and crew had taken to the one lifeboat. It was very satisfying to have rescued the crew but unfortunate that we didn’t find them before the one man had died. We had some very happy times on board, a number of cocktail parties, boat trips to Comino and Gozo (smaller islands off Malta), escorting the Naval yacht race to Syracuse (Sicily) and a Families Day trip round Malta. Oh, and I almost forgot, Betty’s Mother flew out to Malta to stay with us for a few weeks, Betty and she went across to Syracuse in a small ship called the Star of Malta for a short visit. When she went home she took passage in a Royal Fleet Auxilliary called the Amhurst and greatly enjoyed the voyage. So, in May 1959, my time in Mediator came to an end and I handed over the ship to my successor, after two years and five months, on the jetty in Syracuse. Betty and I had decided to drive overland from Sicily back to U.K by car. Colin had been flown home to his Aunt in England, and to start at Prep School, St Bede’s at Eastbourne. I had obtained permission from C-in-C Med’s Staff for Betty to take passage in Mediator to Syracuse, we hoisted our car onboard, our heavy luggage had been crated up and dispatched by ship for home. It was a most interesting trip home taking three weeks and calling in at Catania and Messina (Sicily), up the west coast of Italy, Amalfi, Vesuvious, Rome, Perugia, Florence, Bolognia, Padua and Venice. Then over the Arlberg Pass into Switzerland, Lake Constance. Into Germany, Heidelberg, then down the Rhine to Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne, into Belgium at Aachen, Bruges and Ostend for the crossing to Dover. Back in this country in July 1959 I found myself First Lieutenant of H.M.S.Vanguard (Flag Officer Reserve Fleet, Portsmouth), the last of the British Battleships, and when she went to be broken up we transferred to H.M.S. Sheffield and Mull of Galloway. This was quite a major piece of organisation because I had the job of planning where all the Officer’s cabins, offices, messdecks, storerooms and workshops were to move to. One very large ship to be fitted into two smaller ones. In the end it seemed to work out alright because I had no complaints (strange though it may seem). At one point in this period the Commander of Vanguard was temporarily made Captain of the Reserve Fleet (given his fourth ring and paid for it) whereas I as First Lieut temporarily took over the Commander’s job, as well as my own responsibilities, and didn’t get promoted or paid the extra cash! I was a bit sore at that!! This brings me to my penultimate (one but last) job in the Navy as a Staff Officer on the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief Plymouth, from Jan 1962 to July 1964, first Admiral Sir Charles Madden and then Admiral Sir Nigel Henderson . This was literally an underground posting as the Operations Room was under the lawns of Admiralty House at Mount Wise, Plymouth. My immediate boss was Staff Officer Operations, Commander Spencer Drummond DSC and above him the Chief of Staff to C-in-C and finally C-in-C himself. As Staff Officer Movements I was chiefly concerned with the movements and sailings of H.M.Ships in our area which was the Eastern half of the Atlantic Ocean down as far as the Azores, a very large area. At first we rented a pleasant little house in Meavy Lane near Yelverton and we were there for six months before we were allocated a Naval Flat (all mod cons and three bedrooms) at Mount Wise over looking the Cremyl Ferry and within less than five minutes walk to work. One of us more junior blokes had to be duty down the Operations Room at night. It worked out pretty reasonably, about once a week or perhaps three times a month. We didn’t have to stay awake all night as there was a bed, with phone adjacent, but you had to be available for emergencies or ships in trouble. I myself also had a naval phone in our flat. Every year, in the summer, we would join all C-in-C’s Staff for an evening Boat Picnic. Two ferries, which normally did trips across the water from Mount Wise to Cremyl, were commandeered (or hired!) and we, plus our wives, would embark at Mount Wise. Onboard there would be a small Royal Marine Orchestra (in one boat), a considerable bar (both boats), a considerable picnic (both boats) and staff plus wives (both boats). We would then proceed in convoy up the River Tamar, through the Dockyard area up as far as Calstock, a matter of 8 or 9 miles, where we would have our picnic and step ashore if we wished. There was a very pleasant pub in Calstock called The Boot Inn and at other times we often visited it for an evening meal. Then down river, eating and drinking and listening to the music and back to Mount Wise. On landing we then had to make our way to our various homes. When we were in our flat at Mount Wise it was a simple affair to get home after these parties but before that, out at Yelverton, we had quite a drive across the Moor and there were some very large cattle to be met on the road. On one occasion, three cars fully loaded were going across the moor and he first unfortunately ran into one of the animals, the second car following at a distance was able to stop and help the first car to remove the beast to the side of the road. The third car stopped to see what was going on and a policeman put his head through the window and saw an Officer, who shall be nameless, sitting comfortably on the rear seat behind the driver with his legs stretched out on the shoulder of the driver who in actual fact was his wife!! Of course in those days there were no drinking and driving rules and anyway he wasn’t driving. The policeman with a smile waved them on to proceed with their joumey. Finally to complete my time in the Navy , from Aug 1964 until May 1967, I was attached to the Sea Cadet Corps as Western Area Training Officer with an office in Bath and looking after 52 Units in 11 counties, an interesting and enjoyable time which entailed a lot of time travelling by car. These units were divided roughly equally between North and South of the Bristol Channel, that is West and South Wales, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire; and south of the Bristol Channel, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and the Bristol area. The units all had their meetings (or parade nights) in the evening and on one occasion I had the unit in Milford Haven one evening to visit and the following evening was Penzance (no Severn Bridge in those days). This was a considerable distance to drive in the day and be ready, Bright eyed and Bushy Tailed, for the parade in the evening. 52 units meant at least 104 visits a year. 365 days less 104 Sats and Suns equals 261 weekdays minus 104 visits equals 157 days. Each unit also had an Annual Inspection attended by the Area Officer and the Training Officer so 157 days less another 52 brought the number of spare days down to 105 for the Office. We had our office in what had been the Empire Hotel in Bath. I solved this problem, if I was visiting reasonably locally, by driving back to the office after midnight and getting the work done in the small hours. All this time we were living in Somerset, 7 miles west of Bridgwater, and some 50 miles from Bath. The house we had bought was in a bit of a shambles and needed a lot of repair work. At certain weekends we all assembled for National Sports Meetings when all six areas would compete against each other at Swimming and Boxing. At other weekends we had our Area Meetings. Once a year a large number of our cadets would attend a week’s Boating Course down at H.M.S. Raleigh at Torpoint just into Cornwall. We arranged two Tattoos, one North of the Bristol Channel at Port Talbot and one South of the Bristol Channel at Bath for all the units in those regions. These two events included a Royal Marine Band, Marching Displays by the Cadets, Gymnastics and a mini Field Gun competition similar to the Royal Tournament but not quite so sophisticated, finishing up as the Finale with Beating the Retreat, the Evening Hymn and the Last Post. I came to know a lot of very pleasant and dedicated people in the Sea Cadet Corps, the SCC Officers and their Families and the Civilians who formed the Committees of each unit. So that was the end of my Service career. I retired in the rank of Lieutenant Commander on 23rd June, 1967 at the age of 471/2, six months short of 30 years, and became a Thatcher (thatching houses) for the next 14 years. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Many thanks to Peter Day for that interesting resume of his Royal Navy career. That last job of yours really took me by surprise. News comes from Bob McLean in Fort Lauderdale, USA. First of all, Bob took part in Memorial Day ceremonies in his capacity as standard bearer for the Fort Lauderdale branch of the British Legion. Below is a photograph (Bob in centre) and report by their Secretary. TRIBUTE TO THE BRITS By: Dong Bomford The Royal British Legion were invited to take part in a special Memorial Day Tribute on May 23, 2003 honoring the British casualties in the Iraq war. Three large wreaths on stands were on display in the rotunda of the Miami Courthouse on Flagler Street with the names of those fallen from U.S. and British forces plus names of international correspondents killed whiled reporting in Iraq. See ‘REUNIONS’ Four of our senior members formed the honor guard, Doug Bomford, Bob McLean, Peter Rowley, and Terry Wright with an average age of 75 and we were assigned a piper, Byron Hoffman, for the event. We mounted a four point guard around the wreaths after being piped in by Byron for the period 1030 to 1100 and who then played interrnittently and piped us off when we were relieved by the ROTC cadet Corp. We then proceeded to join the Parade from Biscayne Boulevard up Flagler Street to the Courthouse for the official ceremony at 1200 with various speeches and many patriotic songs. During the British recognition Berle Lee sang God Save the Queen, H.M. Consul, Simon Daley gave the address followed by presentation of the wreath, depicted in the form of a Union Jack from fresh flowers and carried by RBL Honor Guard while Byron played Amazing Grace on the pipes. The British part of the ceremony closed with Richard Pardon singing Land of Hope and Glory, Valerie Bows sang White Cliffs of Dover and We'll Meet Again, strong favorites from the Vera Lynn days. We were fortunate in spending half the time inside the Courthouse during this long event as it was very hot out there at high noon, but we were lucky that we avoided the rain until we were approaching "The Field Pub" for the final ceremony when it came down in buckets. Our spirits were lifted very shortly after by some well chosen brews and bangers surrounded by onions and mash. Our thanks go to those of our members taking part in this important ceremony in recognition of British coalition casuaities by the American public for our unqualified support. It was, indeed, an event extremely well arranged and organized by Kevin Sieffert from the Miami Courthouse, but like so many other events, very poorly attended. ____________________ Last year Bob visited his sister in Spain and was very surprised to find a lady in distress. His explanation follows: THE BOAT The article below is from my sister in Empuriabrava, Spain. She and her husband retired there last year from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, UK. She wrote it for the monthly magazine of the Catalan Society of the British community of Girona of which she is editor. She said she has taken some poetic licence, whatever that means, and where is the poetic license department of City Hall, anyway? As such it is quite accurate. What is not mentioned (and this is for those of you who have computers), is that on the website of the National Maritime Museum of Greenwich, London, is that on the list of their core ship collection is already a sister vessel number 102, which is under restoration. Directly above it on the same list is another vessel, or more correctly a submarine. It is that of Holland 1 which is actually an display at the British submarine museum at Gosport Hampshire, UK. It was salvaged by my department which was that of the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service salvage department, based at Gosport, a stone's throw from the submarine museum. Our department was under the umbrella of the Captain of the Port, Portsmouth, in other words, boss of the Royal Navy and commercial port of Portstmouth. After having left the Royal Navy, I worked as a civilian from 1974 to 1982, principally as coxswain "D47", the workboat/diving vessel to the salvage mooring and recovery vessel "Golden Eye", which was also based in Portsmouth. The details of the story and recovery salvage of Holland 1, is contained on the British Submarine Museum website, along with a small photo of Golden Eye. Since this operation took place in Devonport, our parent department there was the leader of this project and we assisted. It was shown live on national TV at the moment of recovery and later at the dry dock as it was being emptied to reveal it sitting on the bottom of the dock. It was especially interesting to me as I have studied submarines, their history and development, etc. as my "trade" was that of sonar controller in the RN. In simple terms, a submarine hunter! This was why I was in this job in the first place. This particular submarine, as Holland 1 suggests, was the very first submarine for the Royal Navy of a batch of six. It was accepted by the Royal Navy from Mr. Holland, the son of an American preacher, who invented the submarine as we know it today. He was paid for the development by the Fenian Society. Who was the Fenian Society? Anyone who says the Founder of the IRA can congratulate themselves on accuracy. Coincidentally, their finance in this project was for use against the British. In short the IRA paid for the development of the British submarine as we know it today. Here endeth the history lesson, according to Bob. Directory: download download -> Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 May 20, 2009 Abstract download -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations download -> Bbc archives: Beyond the programme download download -> Occupational health and safety download -> Dynatest 3031 lwd light Weight Deflectometer download -> Forth coming competitive exams download -> English Olympiad Tasks: 10 th form Аудіювання, 10 клас. Текст download -> Brush High School Morning Announcements Friday, September 05, 2014 all school download -> Year 9 The Arts — Music download -> Years 7 and 8 standard elaborations — Australian Curriculum: Music draft Download 0.72 Mb. Share with your friends:
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