I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

On 19th May 1945 Norman embarked on H.M.S. Arbiter , an escort carrier, to start the 2000 mile journey to Ponam. On June 1st they arrived at the island of Manus, the main base, before going on to Ponam. The next day Norman wrote: 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 judged it at some ten miles long; the ground rises to a r

I explained in this blogpost how my dad, Norman Buckle, came to be in Australia in April 1945. He was waiting with his unit M.S.R.6 to be sent on to Ponam in the Admiralty Islands (present day Papua New Guinea) to join MONAB 4 (Mobile Operating Naval Air Base). An extract from his diary describes his first day in Sidney where he was to remain for almost six weeks. On the morning of the 9 th April we arrived at Sydney, largest city in Australia and second largest in British Empire. Before entering the great harbour the sea was very choppy but once inside became calm and we moved alongside without incident. The main impression I now recall is the first view of the magnificent bridge across the harbour. About the middle of the afternoon we disembarked and travelled to a Naval Air Station a few miles outside the city which was to be our home for the next few weeks. We settled down and that same night caught the electric train back into the city. Our first call was an eating

Earlier in the blog I wrote about my dad's war-time experiences when he was stationed at H.M.S. Nabaron  http://tinned-variety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/hms-nabaron-monab-4-msr6-1945.html on Ponam Island in the Pacific Ocean. When I was researching the background for I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety I read several books and websites that had a few references to H.M.S. Nabaron - but not a lot (as someone famously once said). Nevertheless, from time to time, I continue the search and yesterday stumbled upon this fantastic insignia which seems to really sum up the place and the situation. You can read more of the story in   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 at  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2  and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEUG2

When Norman arrived back in the UK, in December 1944, he was given a couple of weeks leave before he was sent for more training at H.M.S. Gosling at Warrington (Cheshire). Norman's job in the Fleet Air Arm was that of a radio mechanic and the training at H.M.S. Gosling was for air fitters and air mechanics and for those working on electronics and radar. On March 10th 1945, Norman was sent to Liverpool for embarkation on R.M.S. (Royal Merchant Ship) Empress of Scotland . He wrote in his diary: Left England. A party of girls from the dockers' canteen sang songs as we left the dock trying to cheer us up. By Hell, but I felt terrible watching England slip away once again. The Empress of Scotland was a beautiful liner built in 1929 by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. Originally known as The Empress of Japan , on conversion to a troop carrier her name had been changed on the special orders of Winston Churchill as it was against regulations

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 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEUG2

Click a link to read the story from the beginning: Joining the Fleet Air Arm October 15th 1942 Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa 1943 H.M.S. Spurwing 1943 Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa October 1943 - November 1944 Hastings, near Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa 1943 - 1944 Visit of Admiral Peters to H.M.S. Spurwing January 1944 The Radio Section H.M.S. Spurwing 1944 Day Trip to Marampa February 6th 1944 Lumley Beach, Freetown, Sierra Leone March 26th 1944 The Concert April 1944 An Evening of Tribal Dances 22nd April 1944 H.M.S. Spurwing | H.M.S. Nabaron H.M.S. Nabaron MONAB 4 MSR6 1945 Ponam, The Admiralty Islands, British Pacific Fleet 1945 The End of the War

I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety Blog  has joined   Writing a Family History .  Hope to see you there!  More books at Spurwing ebooks

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 won't be posting anything new here until after Christmas. Why not call in at Writing a Family History instead which has had several up-dates recently? If you would like to see all the photographs for I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety in one array, they're at Spurwing ebooks . Just follow the link and scroll down the page. Thanks for stopping by my blog. If you read with a Kindle, iPad, Kobo, Nook, iPhone you can get a free copy of Julia's Room by Michael Murray at any of the main ebook retailers. There are some links here if you're interested. Hope you have a Very Happy Christmas and see you again in 2014.

Last time I posted on this Blog I mentioned I was trying to get hold of a copy of Ponam - A Base of the Forgotten Fleet by Harry J Bannister and that Waterstones were on the case trying to fulfil my order. Unfortunately, they sent an email the other day to say the book was unavailable. I've looked on Ebay and on a couple of specialist book-sites and there's no sign of it there either; so I suppose that's that. I'm disappointed because I thought the book might have a really full account of what went on on Ponam Island in 1945. My dad didn't write much in his diary once he got there and afterwards he told a relative they all thought they were going to die so I don't suppose writing about it was very high on his priority list at the time. During the 1950s when we were growing up, our dad never talked about his war-time experiences and we weren't all that interested anyway. Sadly he died when he was in his mid-fifties and now we do want to know what happ