Henry William Brown, known as Buster Brown, recalls his early life as an evacuee during the Second World War and his early career as an apprentice electrical engineer before the Blitzkrieg. After this troubling time started, he volunteered for the Navy to avoid being put into the mines. He reflects on his time being trained in Combined Ops. Formed in 1940 by Winston Churchill their operations would generally involve a small group of commandos landing from the sea or dropped by parachute. Combined Ops played a large part in the Allied victory of WWII and particularly on D-Day. D Day and Buster landed on Sword beach. Almost immediately he was put in charge of 12 German Prisoners. He tells stories about the aftermath of D-Day and vulnerable moments of losing those close to him in battle. Overall this reflection on the Second World War provides a detailed and brave account of this Veterans time in the Navy. He ends this in America on VE Day with celebrations as he anticipated the continue fight in Japan.

David comes from a military background, his father and two older brothers served during WWII. He enlisted into the Navy in 1949 for seven years. He recounts a year of arduous basic training, which carried the risk of being “back-squadded” for failing. Although tough, David valued his training and was determined to succeed. Gaining the green beret was the proudest moment of David’s life. He began active duty in Korea, defending Wonson Harbour on Yodo Island in 4-1 commandos. He manned the heavy artillery, working alongside American counterparts to defend the island from enemy incursions. This also involved raids to disable strategic infrastructure. He enjoyed the opportunities for R&R in Japan and spent time there after peace was declared. David returned to the UK, following which he spent 3-month tours of duty in many areas including the Caribbean, often in guard duty roles on-board ship. David recounts happy memories of this time. Finally, David was stationed first in Malta, in charge of weapons stores and then in a similar role in Cyprus during the struggle for independence. It was while on duty that David was suddenly told to leave as his 7 years were up.

George enlisted in the navy at fifteen and war broke out three months later. When news came of British ships being sunk with fellow recruits on board he realised that he was just a cog in the wheel and there was a long struggle ahead. Aged sixteen he was serving on HMS Devonshire, patrolling the Indian Ocean. Shortly after leaving Freetown news came of the German battleship Bismarck and escorts breaking out into the Atlantic and they were ordered to head north. A British convoy was under threat and Devonshire was part of a large force assembled to hunt the enemy. During the battle George and his comrades could hear the German 15-inch shells flying overhead. After hours of pounding from the Royal Navy the Bismarck’s big guns were silent and the Devonshire closed in and finished the German ship with torpedoes. Some survivors were rescued but they had to leave the area due to reported U-boats, although they left behind all their life rafts for the survivors. A few months later after weeks at sea they were escorting convoys in the Far East. After leaving Colombo with their sister ship HMS Cornwall they were attacked by Japanese dive-bombers from one of the enemy carrier groups. Within ten minutes they had been hit and began to sink, followed shortly by the Cornwall. In the sea they were machine-gunned by Japanese aircraft. After thirty hours, with little food and water under the hot sun, the survivors were rescued by British warships.