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Author Topic: I just found out.......  (Read 1849 times)

tony23

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I just found out.......
« on: January 05, 2017, 11:38:55 pm »

I went to visit my wife's uncle over Christmas my wife was raised by her auntie and uncle and she looks to them as her mother and father she never had, he's just turned 92 and as fit as a fiddle still driving tall and slim in fact looking at his old photos he's hardly changed. I was having a good chat with him and out of the blue he told me he went to Russia in the summer to receive a medal for his services in the Royal Navy he sailed on the convoy ships through the last years of the second world war. His main ship was HMS Emerald a light cruiser he told me many stories while on board the ship one that's going to stick in my mind forever, he was on the ship when a German plane came in low and dropped it's bombs 2 went either side of the ship but one had a direct hit next to him but did not explode. While telling me this story I googled his ship on my phone and could not believe that the history of the ship and even the event he described in detail was written in front of me by other sailors on Navel forums.


A true hero and a legend in my eyes.   
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2017, 06:42:49 am »

Quote

"... he was on the ship when a German plane came in low and dropped it's bombs 2 went either side of the ship but one had a direct hit next to him but did not explode!"


                    :o   :o    :o
 
 
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Footski

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2017, 07:42:33 am »

That is a wonderful story. He sounds like a man we would all be proud to know. :-))
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tony23

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2017, 06:46:21 pm »

what surprises me is he's not had medals from the Royal Navy but a consideral amount from Russia and France
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rnli12

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2017, 06:55:00 pm »

And more deserving on the Honour List  :-))
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Rich

ballastanksian

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2017, 08:51:30 pm »

Your anecdote is agood example of why we should try and talk to veterans or people of the same age as they have amazing life experiences. I appreciate that some people do not like to bring all the memories back so one has to be respectful. A chap in the village I grew up in served aboard many of the Queen Elizabeth class but he died befoe I knew this.

Thankyou.
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raflaunches

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Re: I just found out.......
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2017, 12:05:39 am »

I had a similar experience when I joined up in the RAF, for some reason they did a full family check of military experience and I discovered that my grandmother's cousin was killed flying a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. My grandmother gave me his wings before she died and they have sat pride of place on my shelf since 2003. A very brave man she called him, and this came from a girl who saw the destruction of Coventry in 1940 from Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. She said you could see the fires from 40 miles away! She also saw one of the bombers crash land on her family's farm land and she had to plough the field for many a year and in 1971 my Great Uncle found a cluster of bombs on the same area she had ploughed!!! A very lucky woman.
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