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A selection from his letters and diaries. He went to Dartmouth in 1925 and by 1939 was First Lieutenant of Delight. He served with her through the Norwegian Campaign until her sinking in the Channel in June 1940. In September he took over the Town Class destroyer Roxborough and spent almost two years with her on Atlantic convoys. In September 1942 he took over Ilex, then refitting in Charleston and served with her for the invasions of Sicily and Italy. Early in 1944 he moved to a staff post in the planning of Neptune and he landed in Normandy on D-Day. He retired in 1961 at the top of the Captains List.

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He was called up in mid-1940 and after training joined the collier ss Redriffe as a DEMS gunner on the East Coast. In 1943 he undertook officer training then joined the trawler Breeze engaged in special operations as First Lieutenant, working in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. In June 1944 they returned to the UK to commission the Jacques Morgand working in home waters. In spring 1945 he moved to Prodigal then finally and briefly to the repair ship Berry Head.

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The author first served on Montrose and Malcolm, then volunteered to serve in submarines in mid-1941. After training he joined Sahib, which served from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. A further spell of training in H 44 was followed by a transfer to midget submarines in mid-1944. He made an attack on Singapore Harbour in XE 3 for which he won the Victoria Cross.

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The autobiography of the much loved Scottish actor-comedian. Born in 1924 he volunteered under the "Y" Scheme in 1941 and joined Ganges in March 1942. After training he joined the new sloop Ibis for sea time, was sunk in her, and after five hours in the water was picked up by Scylla. He then went to King Alfred and after training joined ML 1421 as First Lieutenant. After a gruelling year of work in the Channel, he was invalided out early in 1945.

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Tells the story of three brothers, Vic, Bill and Eric Foster, and their friends and contemporaries from Thurmaston, Leicestershire. It explains how the three went to war and how one of them, Vic Foster, did not return. He served aboard Volunteer in the Atlantic and Arctic but in 1943 transferred to Combined Operations and joined HMLST418 in the United States before she moved to the Mediterranean. He was lost aboard the ship in February 1944, when she was torpedoed. The book also tells the story of Bill Foster's escape from Singapore and Eric Foster's time in India. Published in 200 copies.

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An autobiography. He started his Boy Seaman training at St Vincent in March 1939, and after moving to the Isle of Man completed his training the following March

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In 1939 Garrod was at a naval training school and in 1940 he joined up as a Boy Seaman. Training in the Isle of Man was followed by a circuitous journey to join Rodney in mid-1941 to see service with the Home Fleet and Force H. In November 1941 he was transferred for Combined Operations training and in mid 1943 went to the United States to help take over LCI 297. The rest of the war was spent in the Mediterranean with invasions and special operations. A light tale full of drink, sex, and class warfare.

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The author served on RHN Adrias for six months in the South Atlantic and Mediterranean, then moved to the gunboat Scarab for the invasions of Sicily and Italy. From October 1943–October 1944 he was based on the stone frigate HMS Nile at Alexandria. He saw out the European war as Base Medical Officer at Piraeus during the liberation and civil war.

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The autobiography of two bachelor twin brothers who spent most of their lives working for the community. They were called up in October 1939 and after training were appointed to an MTB flotilla based at Portsmouth. Several months of training and patrolling were followed by a hectic raid in support of the Dutch, and a planned but failed attempt to destroy the North Sea lock gates of the Zuider Zee. Then came night patrols covering the Dunkirk evacuation. Geoffrey alone took part in these events as Trevor was reserve navigator for the flotilla. Nervous exhaustion for Geoffrey and six months shore duty followed for the twins, who were kept together as Divisional Officers of the New Entry Training Staff at the Royal Naval Barracks and later at HMS Royal Arthur in Skegness. Trevor was invalided out and shortly afterward in 1943, Geoffrey was appointed to command the converted A/A paddle steamer HMS Plinlimmon in the Thames. Later that year he was appointed to HMS Armadillo in Glen Finart where beachmasters were trained. After D-Day he was sent to Glasgow University for a course on Japan, but was demobilised in July 1945.

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A memoir based on his midshipman's diary. After training at Conway he joined the AMC Canton in 1940. In spring 1941 he joined the new Abdiel. In 1942 he moved to Sheffield and saw action from the Torch landings to the Barents Sea. In 1943 he moved to King George V for Force H and Husky. Early in 1944 he joined Tintagel Castle as a sublieutenant and spent the rest of the war with her.

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One of a series for young people describing teenage life. He was called up at Christmas 1943. After training at Collingwood and Whale Island he joined the minesweeper Foam. He soon transferred to Stevenstone and went to the Mediterranean, where he saw the various postwar problems of the Eastern Mediterranean from the Corfu Incident to Palestinian refugees. A thin account of his experiences.

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The author's autobiography. He commanded Exeter during her last commission from 1941 until her sinking, and was then a prisoner of the Japanese until the end of the war.

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The privately printed memoirs of a career naval officer who retired as Flag Officer, Scotland. Eighty pages record his wartime career as, successively, head of the Signal School, Captain of the cruiser Kent serving with the Home Fleet and on the Murmansk Run, Commodore of the RN Barracks at Chatham, and finally in command of the 10th Cruiser Squadron with his flag in Birmingham. A modestly told but very enjoyable story.

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GRANT, Donald. A Working Holiday 1940-1945. viii, 247p. Gisborne: Allen & Hodden, 1992. ISBN: 0959796584.

A New Zealander who volunteered in 1940, he joined Pytchley after training. The 21DF mainly covered East Coast convoys. On promotion to Leading Telegraphist he joined Onslow. She was based at Scapa for Arctic convoys, the Vaagso Raid, the Harpoon convoy and the Battle of the Barents Sea. Then came D-Day and more Arctic work. By war’s end he was a CPO. An enjoyable account of life on the lower deck.

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He joined up in 1939 and after training went to Calcutta. Convoy work was followed by the Norwegian campaign and the Channel then the Mediterranean Fleet and its hard campaign in which she was sunk. He transferred to Barham, but the book finishes with a spell of illness in Durban and a return to the UK in late 1941.

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The author joined up in 1940 and trained as a signalman. After training he went to the USA to commission Lincoln. At the end of 1941 he was transferred to the East Indies to Scout then the minesweeper Tewera. He returned to the UK to commission the new destroyer Zephyr, where he saw out the war. Strongest on his experience of naval life.

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He joined under the Special Entry scheme in 1941 when he was seventeen

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Describes the naval career of a regular, from the 1930s to the 1950s. During the war he served on Hero in the Mediterranean and South Atlantic, briefly on Fiji while she worked up, on L'Incompromise in Portsmouth, on London and Campbeltown. In late 1942 he went to the US to join Ilex, which was refitting there. She moved to the Mediterranean in 1943 and when she paid off at Malta in 1944 he joined Paladin at Colombo and served in her until the end of the war. An amusing if vague account of life on the lower deck.

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A fictionalised autobiography. After training he joined a Tribal and saw service in the Mediterranean at Matapan and Crete, where he was sunk. He joined a damaged cruiser for a US refit then moved to a Town Class destroyer. A brisk Atlantic war was followed by transfer to an LST and the Mediterranean landings. In summer 1944 he moved to a Castle Class corvette in the Arctic, and after her sinking joined a Loch Class Frigate sent to the Far East.

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In 1939 as a young journalist he was called up as RN Special Reservist No. 1 and became a stoker. This lively account of his service describes his service in Afridi, notably in the Norwegian campaign. He then had a spell on shore with the Humber Boiler Cleaning Party at Hull. In 1943 he moved to Danae as a leading stoker but six months later was transferred as a Temporary Acting Sub-Lieutenant to the Press Division of the Admiralty. He covered the D-Day landings from an LCT and became Press Liaison Officer for the beachhead then covered the Walcheren assault. He then moved east and covered the landings in Arakan and moved full circle when he was on Tartar on a successful anti-shipping sweep in June 1945. A lively tale.

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