40s and 50s Memories
XI hockey. He captained shooting VIII, winning
shooting colours, and he was a member of the
King's College Eight that won the prestigious
Schools 'Country Life' Shooting Competition in
1950.
He remembers J. J. Evans, the late Chris
Everard and Tony Facer, and the Charlton
brothers as friends.
Of his life after King's he writes:
Leaving King's at the end of 1951, I started
my career in the Royal Navy at Dartmouth in
January 1952. Cadet time was one term at the
College and two on the Training Cruiser, in the
summer cruising Scandinavian ports, and in the
Autumn around the Mediterranean. Thereafter
as a Midshipman for 19 months on a cruiser
Flagship for the Admiral 2i/c Med, based at
Malta.
Training Cruiser HMS Gambia 1953
The Med station was very glamorous at the time,
with Mountbatten as a charismatic Commander
in Chief. In the summer of 1953, we were sent
to Port Said for two months 'police duty' with a
watching brief for British ships southbound for
the Canal. This was a fractious time in the early
days of President Nasser. In August on our
return to Malta, we were urgently diverted to
the Ionian Islands off the west coast of Greece,
where there had been a major earthquake. Our
destination was the port of Zante on Zakinthos.
We were met by an horrendous situation, with the town 100% demolished, at least 5,000 dead
from an island population of approx 25,000, and
by mid-afternoon we had a wind-driven fire that
we had to attempt to contain. After three days
we were thankfully relieved by another cruiser
from Malta with an abundance of stores.
Naval assistance Zante earthquake, Greece 1953
In the early Autumn of 1953 I was dragooned
into drumming up a rugby team of young officers
from around the Fleet, to play against the
Cadets on the Training Cruiser due shortly, and
in doing so came across a ready-made Captain
and scrum half - namely a Sub Lieut. Paul
Randall OA (BF47) who was doing his National
Service; we were soundly thrashed! At the end
of 1954, now a Sub Lieutenant, I returned to
UK for 18 months of technical courses covering
gunnery, navigation etc. While at the Navigation
School, from where, incidentally, Eisenhower
launched D Day, I came across Malcolm Gilbert
OA (M) as a Lieutenant and Secretary to the
Commanding Officer. On completion of courses
in 1956 I went to Submarine Training School
and for the next nine years served in seven
different submarines in the Mediterranean and
in the UK. In 1958, we were sent to Ceylon, as
it then was, for two months of exercises with
our ships from Singapore, and those from the
Indian, Pakistani and Ceylonese navies. A
wonderful time, beautiful country and weather,
and we were able to meet up with many old
friends from cadet days, 20 of them from India
and 20 from Pakistan.
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