After volunteering for the Navy, Reg was first sent to America on the HMS Asbury, one of the first minesweepers. He chuckles at the memory of mistakenly identifying a barracuda as a torpedo on their way to Bermuda. While sailing back over the Atlantic, the ship was attacked off the Irish Coast, and three of the convoy were sunk. Reg then joined the HMS Gazelle in the Fortieth Minesweeping Flotilla. He relates his memories of D-Day. The minesweepers were the first to arrive, and the crew were at action stations for 3 days straight, sweeping all 4 beaches. Reg recalls a German shell missing their boat narrowly during this time. His ship also picked up some survivors, but Reg was told to only take the dog tags of the dead. A memory that sticks with him is a soldier putting a flamethrower into a pillbox on Gold Beach, and all the Germans jumping out.  The HMS Gazelle was sent to Plymouth after being damaged at the end of August, so their place in the flotilla was taken by HMS Plyades. Whilst on leave in England, Reg sees the news that this ship has been sunk along with two others in the convoy, and recalls saying to his father ‘That’s my flotilla Dad.’ Reg then leaves the Gazelle and goes to the Far East as a Torpedo Man, but says he has always regretted leaving the ship. Reg describes the war as life-changing, and was glad to have been part of D-Day, although he was only 18 at the time. His story demonstrates the intensity of D-Day, and the tireless work of people like him that made the mission successful. 

Pam Torrens was born in Southampton from a lineage of sailors and fishermen and so without question joined a sea faring service in the war.  She joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) aged eighteen and was made a chief petty officer after six months. Pam describes her Wren training and the testing of her German language skills. Beginning at Mill Hill, and then transferring to a special unit called Southfields, she learnt how to use radio frequencies to detect E-Boats, and interpret the codes used by Germans. She was sent to Station X, unaware at the time that this was Bletchley Park. Here she listened to codes and would phone them through to the local naval intelligence centre. Later sent to work in intelligence centres herself, she describes the windy Abbots Cliff where she listened to messages about the Bismarck, learning morse code at Hemsby, and being stationed at Ventnor during D-Day. She later volunteered to go to Hamburg Germany to interpret captured documents for the navy. Reflected throughout is Pam’s enjoyment of being in the Wrens, but also the tough circumstances and reality of not being able to divulge information about code breaking to her family after signing the Official Secrets Act. She remained hopeful her important work was impactful to the war effort.