I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

Saturday 1 st January 1944 " Rang in the New Year well and truly on the ship’s bell. Nearly all the officers and ratings were in various stages of inebriation. The first lieutenant vainly trying to drink someone’s health from a bottle with the top still on. Foul taste in mouth this morning due to excess of port wine ." That's what my dad (Norman Buckle) wrote in his diary on New Year's Day 1944. He was stationed at H.M.S. Spurwing, the Royal Navy Air Base at Hastings, near Freetown in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He was nineteen years old. This photo was in Norman's collection; he hasn't made clear whether or not it's the New Year's Eve celebrations. Looks like it was a fun night though. Considering that high temperatures and humidity made a posting to Freetown very unpopular with services personnel they look like they're making the best of it!  Freetown was surrounded by malarial mangrove swamps and the humidity was so

I borrowed ‘Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors’ by Simon Fowler* from my local public library recently and found it to be a useful and informative guide. When I was researching my Second World War ancestor I found that it was quite straightforward to get hold of his records of service in the Fleet Air Arm from the Royal Navy Archives. There was a form and instructions that could be downloaded from the Internet and when completed sent off in the post with a cheque for £30 which seemed a bit steep but there you are. After a wait of several weeks the available information was returned and although incomplete still fascinating. In his book Simon Fowler guides you through a whole range of potential sources for all the UK services and even some of the civilian roles. For example, he gives information about researching ancestors who might have been Bevin Boys including some interesting weblinks. My grandfather was a coal miner and was required to continue in that occupa

Norman aka Lofty is far left, second row from back When my dad first joined the Royal Navy in October 1942 he was sent for initial training to H.M.S. Royal Arthur. This was a naval shore base at the Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, Loncolnshire which the Royal Navy had taken over for training purposes at the start of the war. My dad was just over eighteen and a half years old when he signed up as a wartime volunteer. He was almost 6' 1" tall and for that reason was nick-named "Lofty". Recently a friend has been doing some delving into his own father's World War II story; he's found that his father trained at H.M.S.Royal Arthur too. However his dad met a local Skegness girl and the rest, as they say, is history. There's a great Pathe News clip of some new recruits at H.M.S. Royal Arthur if you follow this link:  http://www.britishpathe.com/video/hms-royal-arthur If you want to read more of the book follow either of these links to read a fre

When my dad set off on his long journey to Sierra Leone in October 1943 he noted in his diary that he'd thrown a coin into the river for luck when crossing the Forth Bridge by railway on the way to Liverpool Docks for embarkation. Wednesday 13 th October 1943 "Left Dunfermline on the 4.45 for Glasgow . As we went over the Forth Bridge threw a halfpenny over for luck, although I reckon that won’t be much good if we get “tinfished” in the Bay." Tinfished meant being torpedoed. When I found the poem by Rudyard Kipling about "pack drill" which I referred to in a previous post I also found this poem entitled "Tinfish" written by Kipling during the First World War. "Tin Fish" The ships destroy us above   And ensnare us beneath. We arise, we lie down, and we move   In the belly of Death. The ships have a thousand eyes   To mark where we come . . . But the mirth of a seaport dies   When our blow gets hom

When I was researching the background to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II I tried to find out about the development of the island of Ponam, near Manus, in the Admiralty Islands (part of present day Papua New Guinea) as the naval air base to which my dad was posted in 1945. I was delighted to find out more last week in Hansard (the record of Parliamentary debates). In The House of Lords on July 11th 1962 in a debate to do with Naval Estimates Lord Ashbourne reminisced about the base at Manus, in the Admiralty Islands of which he had had first-hand knowledge during the war. "Within about three months of capturing the Admiralty Islands from the Japanese the Americans had turned this almost desert island into a great fleet base, with alongside berths for unloading cargo, with floating docks, with a 10,000-feet airstrip, completed, they say, within fourteen days of the initial landings on the island. They bu

I wrote in I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II about some of the abbreviation's my dad had used in his diary. The most difficult to interpret was P.D. (See previous post). More on the subject of "pack drill". A member of the WW2Talk forum pointed me in the direction of Hansard (the record of Parliamentary debates which is available on-line) where there are a couple of interesting references. In April 1943, Mr Walter Edwards (1900 - 1964), the M.P. for Stepney and Whitechapel, asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if pack drill was being used as a form of punishment in the Royal Navy. The First Lord of the Admiralty gave him a categorical assurance that it was not and had never been used as a form of punishment   in the Royal Navy. In July 1946, Mr Jack Lawson (1881 - 1965), M.P. for Chester-le-Street and briefly Secretary of State for War (1945 - 1946) assured the House of Commons tha

When I was researching the background to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II I became very interested in the history of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Amongst my dad's papers was a page from the weekly edition of The Times newspaper which included these images of life on an aircraft carrier. I speculated that it was after seeing these photographs that he decided that he wanted to join the Fleet Air Arm.  On board an aircraft carrier, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm December 1940  On board an aircraft carrier, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm December 1940  On board an aircraft carrier, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm December 1940  Links to Kindle Store on the Amazon site for the I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II by N. Buckle & C. Murray book page. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEU