I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

In the introduction to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II   I make the point that the majority of volunteers into the armed forces for the duration of WW2 had had little expectation of global travel prior to the war. When he signed up for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy in 1943 my dad, Norman Buckle, had only ever been on holiday to a few seaside resorts such as Scarborough, Blackpool and Morecambe. He rarely went more than a few miles from home and usually this was on his bike. His war-time experiences took him over 4,000 miles from South Yorkshire to the coast of West Africa and over 12,000 miles to the Pacific Island of Ponam via Sidney in Australia. Norman was born in 1924 in Royston, a coal mining village in South Yorkshire. His mother's family (The Smiths) had moved to Royston in about 1880 and his father's family (The Buckles) had gone there in the late 1890s. The Smiths came from Mon

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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

 Sidney Buckle, Norman Buckle, Elsie Buckle (nee Smith) This photo is Norman with his mum (Elsie) and dad (Sidney) and I think he looks about one year old. My guess is that they had this picture taken to celebrate his first birthday. They were quite old parents (especially for that era) as Elsie was 39 and Sidney was 43 when Norman was born. They'd already had a son (Vernon) in 1921 but he'd only lived for a few days before he died. Sidney was a coal miner in the South Yorkshire coal fields as were his father and grandfather before him. Norman had left school and gone to work in an office just before the outbreak of WW2. He signed up for the Fleet Air Arm in 1942 and after training as a radio mechanic for a year he was sent to the Royal Navy air-base at a village called Hastings, near Freetown the capital of Sierra Leone. 

I wrote in the introduction to  I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II about Norman's family background. "His father, grandfather and great grandfather all worked at the local colliery and his paternal grandfather had been an under-manager at the pit." I think this photograph was taken in the 1890's. "Father" is the little boy standing on the front row. He was Sidney Henry Buckle (1881 - 1969). He spent his entire working life underground first as a pit pony boy and later in the maintenance of ropes and cables. Whenever I see images of pit ponies I'm always surprised at how big some of them are; certainly some are Shetland pony sized but others were much taller. Check out this link for stacks of images and you'll see what I mean.  Images of pit ponies  When I was about six or seven years old Sidney Henry, who was my grandad, used to take us for walks in the countryside arou

I was delighted to find two reviews for  I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II on the Amazon UK site today. Thank you so much "clive nolan" and "Gaarghoile" for going to the trouble of posting your reviews - really appreciated. http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B009QXEUG2 Since I wrote this post a couple more reviews have been posted on the Amazon site. They're not very enthusiastic about the book but thanks anyway for taking the time to tell readers what you think. Don't forget that you can read a free sample of the book in the Kindle Store before you download it which will give a pretty good idea of what you're getting. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2 If you don't read with a Kindle you can download a free app which will work on most devices on this page on the Amazon site:  Free app for Kindle  .

My dad arrived at Ponam in the Admiralty Islands in June 1945 as part of the British Pacific Fleet. When I was researching his service record I discovered that he was a member of  MONAB 4 (Mobile Naval Operating Air Bases). His diary records arriving at Ponam: Saturday 2nd June 1945 Yesterday we weighed anchor in the morning and a few hours sailing brought us to Ponam, a small island just off the main one, two miles long by six hundred yards wide. Highest point above sea level 6 ft.  About 12.00 we came ashore in the cutter and surveyed our new home. To look at it is a typical desert island complete with lagoon, coral and wind swept palm trees. Vegetation found growing naturally appears to be coconut palms, wild orange trees, bread fruit with a few tropical flowers and grasses. The seasons appear to be two – wet and dry. (Now we are at the end of the wet). Rainstorms are fairly common. The main island of Manus lies about a mile across the straits and is fairly large. I jud

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In the introduction to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II I explained that when I started researching my dad's story I paid for a copy of his records from the Royal Navy Archives but these gave incomplete details of his service. Then my sister discovered in her loft a folder containing the original documents that were his Fleet Air Arm records: they detailed in chronological order where he'd been and what his job was. There were other documents that added further to his story. Amongst these other documents were copies of his school magazine and in the Summer Term 1940 (the year he left school) it included this contribution from him: I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE "Few of us will be going away for holidays this year for we carry out the "Go to It" slogan. We shall smell the Chemical Works rather than that "honest, seafaring smell compounded of tar, rope and fish, known to the