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A veteran interview with

Bob Gale

Life manning Landing Craft Assaults was both exciting and frightening for Bob Gale as he faced rough seas, mortar attack, and abandonment on beaches.

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About Bob Gale

Mastering sea-sickness and enduring rough waters was only the beginning of Bob Gale’s military life at sea. Desperate to explore the world outside of a baker’s shop in Farnham, Bob describes his multiple attempts to volunteer in the military before he was offered a place in the Royal Navy. In 1942, he boarded the Duchess of Bedford liner bearing landing crafts (LCAs), where he experienced his first assault landing off the coast of Algiers in the dark.

After narrowly missing an opportunity to take part in the invasion of Sicily thanks to a scarlet fever outbreak at HMS Pasco in Scotland, Bob was subsequently assigned to the oil tanker Derwentdale with a Canadian LCM flotilla. He spent a fortnight on Sicilian beaches, accompanied by rough Mediterranean seas, delays in movement, and limited provisions for him and his unit. Bob eventually found himself in Bombay, spending his time there guarding various facilities from mobs and strikes by the Indian navy. 

When intense preparations for the Normandy landings begin, Bob recounts how he and his flotilla conducted nighttime exercises and large-scale troop landings from the secret HMS Cricket camp. A drill at Hayling Island tragically claimed lives due to strong currents, while another at Poole Harbor saw Bob heroically save a sinking landing craft by offloading weight and steering it ashore.

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Alex Cook

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Home | Veterans | Bob Gale

A veteran interview with

Bob Gale

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Life manning Landing Craft Assaults was both exciting and frightening for Bob Gale as he faced rough seas, mortar attack, and abandonment on beaches.

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Gale, Bob. A Veteran Interview with Bob Gale. Interview by Unknown. Legasee, n.d. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/bob-gale/. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
APA Style:
Gale, B. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Bob Gale [Interview by Unknown]. Legasee. Retrieved May 25, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/bob-gale/
Chicago Style:
Gale, Bob. n.d.. A Veteran Interview with Bob Gale. Interview by Unknown. Legasee. Accessed May 25, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/bob-gale/
Harvard Style:
Gale, B. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Bob Gale. [Interviewed by Unknown]. Legasee. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/bob-gale/ (Accessed: 25 May 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Gale, B. A Veteran Interview with Bob Gale [Internet]. Interview by Unknown. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2025 May 25]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/bob-gale/
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