Prologue by Craig Smith
For many years my father’s wartime experiences were told during all-to-brief conversations; a snippet of information here and a mention of events there. It was all too probable that like many of his generation these experiences would be lost. Over time Alan and I spent many hours talking and discussing in detail his wartime experiences. Alan also committed to paper, over a long period, his experiences and I would edit them and Alan would review and amend. I would pose questions and he would add more detail. The process was long but enlightening for us both.
I, for the first time, got an insight into the varied service record of my father. For Alan, casting his mind back over sixty years or more brought back wonderful recollections of remembrance, and tales of long forgotten events. He remarked during this project how much detail came flooding back the more he thought about those years – names, places, minor deeds, humorous incidents and active service. He told me that he would be in bed and something would pop into his mind. All these memories are captured here.
It would have been easy to have written a simple collection of wartime anecdotes, but over time the story developed into a full record of his war years and a period of over a year following VE-Day on Gibraltar awaiting demob.
During the Second Word War my father found himself involved in a training camp mutiny, aboard a decrepit first world war destroyer on an Atlantic convoy, training for ‘hazardous duties’, seeing active service off Gold Beach in Normandy during D-Day, almost court-martialled, stationed on both Malta and Gibraltar, and drafted to a Flower Class Corvette in the Adriatic.
It is his story, in his own words with my own footnotes added for clarification and information on the events and incidents mentioned.
A personal debt of gratitude goes out to Alan and to all those who served in the defeat of Nazism and fascism.
It has been an honour, privilege and pleasure to undertake this project.
Craig Smith
I, for the first time, got an insight into the varied service record of my father. For Alan, casting his mind back over sixty years or more brought back wonderful recollections of remembrance, and tales of long forgotten events. He remarked during this project how much detail came flooding back the more he thought about those years – names, places, minor deeds, humorous incidents and active service. He told me that he would be in bed and something would pop into his mind. All these memories are captured here.
It would have been easy to have written a simple collection of wartime anecdotes, but over time the story developed into a full record of his war years and a period of over a year following VE-Day on Gibraltar awaiting demob.
During the Second Word War my father found himself involved in a training camp mutiny, aboard a decrepit first world war destroyer on an Atlantic convoy, training for ‘hazardous duties’, seeing active service off Gold Beach in Normandy during D-Day, almost court-martialled, stationed on both Malta and Gibraltar, and drafted to a Flower Class Corvette in the Adriatic.
It is his story, in his own words with my own footnotes added for clarification and information on the events and incidents mentioned.
A personal debt of gratitude goes out to Alan and to all those who served in the defeat of Nazism and fascism.
It has been an honour, privilege and pleasure to undertake this project.
Craig Smith