NEWSLETTER 5/2003 - DECEMBER
TO YOU ALL
I hope that as many of us as possible will be able to attend our coming year’s re-union, both so as to enjoy ourselves and particularly to show our admiration and support for our successors in the armed forces who are more stretched and more operationally involved than at any time since WW II,
As we look around the world today, it is difficult not to be worried about the sort of world in which our children or grand-children will find themselves as we move on towards the middle of this new century. To say that we live now at a time of great change, driven by the globalism which follows developments in science and technology, is a ‘blinding glimpse of the obvious’ – but we should remember that it is also something that has also often been said in the past. Not all change, however, is for the good. Perhaps we would benefit from a few more people paying heed to the wisdom of the old adage “If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it”!
At such a time of rapid change, I believe it more important than ever that we hold on to certain core values more strongly than ever. This is not the ‘evil forces of conservatism’, it is a fundamental for stability. I find it helpful in interpreting what this means to remember the last verse of a WW II naval song which some of you may know about the sinking of HMS Hood. The final verse goes:-
“Sweethearts and wives and mothers be proud,
Though your lads lie below with the sea for a shroud,
They were fighting for freedom, let’s never forget,
For us to be British as British we’re yet’
The’re sleeping in heavenly peace, sleeping in heavenly peace”
The spirit of Christmas is though the spirit of hope. In this spirit, I wish you all
“A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”
Admiral Sir Jim
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From our Chairman, S/M George Toomey
Shipmates,
Just in case there isn't another newsletter this year I am taking this chance to wish you all a very happy Xmas and New Year. How time flies by. It won't be long before April is upon us with the next reunion at Eastbourne and the pleasure for me this time will be in not being "the car park attendant", which I have been for the last 4 years. We have to get someone to take over this task, wither from the Association or by hire. We will see. It will cost, hence the Friday night raffle will go towards the cost of making certain the car park is not taken over by local shoppers. So it is down to members to come forward.
With Xmas not long in coming so I'd like to make a plea about Xmas cards. Shipmates, when you send out Xmas cards to other shipmates please put your surname in with your card. Many contact me as they can't recall you by your first name. Last year I had 12 cards like this to which I could not reply, so don't forget.
As I've said before I am in contact with the hotel concerning improvements to the hotel. The main item on my list is the air conditioning system in the dining room and I'm in contact with the Manager to ensure that the system for 2004 is in working order. Peter Harrison and I will be going to the hotel in the new year to ensure that this has been done and I will come back to you with an update before the reunion. Other problems have also been sorted out including the purchase of a 2-way radio so that there will be contact between the start of the parade and the saluting base.
I look forward to meeting you all again next year. My thanks to the members of our organising group who do so much for the Association during the year.
Take care.
George
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MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
OBITUARIES
MAY THEY REST IN PEACE
An obituary was published in the Daily Telegraph on November 25th for Rear Admiral Jan Aylen who died on November 5th. As a Commander (E) he served in HMS Cossack (D57) as Flotilla Engineer Officer from November 1946 until September 1948 but unfortunately we never had him as a member.
In the early days of WWII he served as Engineer Officer of the destroyer Kelvin which was involved in the evacuation of Crete in 1941. He was awarded the DSC for his gallantry and skill during the 2nd Battle of Sirte in 1942. Towards the end of the war he volunteered for the 30th Assault Unit, scruffy, undisciplined team of sailors and marines formed to infiltrate Germany. It was made up of journalists, German-speaking schoolmasters, explosives experts and locksmiths (some recently released from jail) under the direction of intelligence officer Commander Ian Fleming, RNVR. The task of 30 AU was to precede the advance following the Normandy landings, seizing weapons, material and documents before they could be destroyed. The unit was very successful and Lt.Cdr. Aylen was appointed OBE.
As a Captain he served as Home Fleet Engineering Officer and as Captain of the RN Engineering College at Manadon, Plymouth. His last appointment was as Admiral Superintendent at Rosyth Dockyard, the first non-seaman to hold the appointment. He was appointed CB on his retirement.
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New Members
We are happy to welcome the following new members:
S/M N.J. Parker Able Seaman L03 1940 - 1941
Mr. J. Parker Associate Member Son of S/M N.J. Parker
Ms. S.H. Grimes Associate Member Daughter of the late P.O. H. Gilham
Mrs. Betty Hiscock Associate Member Widow of S/M Vic Hiscock
Mrs. Kath Andrews Associate Member Widow of S/M Fred Andrews
Total membership now stands at 281 made up as follows:
Full Members 190 (25 L03, 163 D57)
Associate Members 87
Honorary Members 6
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Other matters
At this special time of the year we would ask you to give a thought to those who are seriously ill and won’t be enjoying themselves as we will. Two more of our members who have been having a bad time lately are Lieutenant Commander W.W. Dennis and Shipmate Jack Race.
Warner Dennis, who was First Lieutenant in D57 during the 1947-49 is currently in hospital seriously ill with stomach cancer. At this time we don’t know the prognosis but George Toomey is keeping in touch.
Jack Race, a Signalman in D57 from 1946 to 1948 had an operation for bowel cancer in May and then a triple heart by-pass operation in July. In addition Jack’s wife Madge is in the early stages of Alzheimers.
We who are well just don't know how lucky we are. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
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Reunion 2004
Several members have phoned to say that the dates for next year’s reunion now clash with another function that they wished to attend. The date was changed to those now booked with the hotel, ie 23rd - 25th April 2004, because the earlier date of 2nd - 4th would have clashed for a number of members. It is obvious that we will never be able to pick a date which would be perfect for everyone. After the 2004 reunion it is intended to revert to the first weekend in April each subsequent year and no changes will be accepted.
Booking forms for Reunion 2004 are enclosed with this newsletter. That for the hotel should be sent direct to the Burlington. The other, the Payment Form, need not be sent in yet but when it is should be sent to the Secretary (cheques being made payable to HMS Cossack Association).
The format for the reunion is expected to be the same as for previous years. Friday for settling in and getting to know each other, setting up, etc. Saturday morning will be the time for the Annual General Meeting during which we hope to have an update from C.P.O. Smithies from HMS RALEIGH about the Cossack Building which was moved there on the closure of HMS CAMBRIDGE. Saturday evening will of course be our main event, the Reunion Dinner. Sunday morning will be our usual Church Parade with the march back to the hotel along the promenade.
More details will be given in the next newsletter after the meeting of our organising group in January/ February.
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Can you help?
We often get requests from sons, daughters, grandchildren, nephews and nieces asking whether we can tell them about their relative who served in HMS Cossack. Unfortunately we usually don’t have any other information than the years that they served in the ship, and then only if they were actually members of the Association. And what about their other service in the R.N. ? Quite often even their own children were never told what their father did during the war, or his service in the R.N. That’s one of the reasons why we have asked members to send us copies of their service certificate. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for the majority of members to do so. Thank you to the 30 odd who have.
A case in point was Emma Mitchell, the grand-daughter of Trevor Tipping, DSM who served in L03 from 1938 until May 1940 after the 2nd Battle of Narvik. She sent us an e-mail. She said, “My grandfather was very quiet about his activities during the war and since I was very young I never fully understood what his generation went through. I would love to try to find out something about his time in the Navy and maybe try and find some of the people he experienced these things with. I feel now he has gone I have a greater need to understand what he did”. He evidently very rarely spoke of his wartime service and, when he died, his first wife’s family took all his naval items. Fortunately Trevor wrote down his experiences of his time in Cossack for us several years ago and a copy has been sent to Emma. However, it doesn’t help with the rest of his naval service.
Emma’s experience is not unusual. Please - talk to your children/grandchildren, tell them what you did and where you went. Why not write it down (and send us a copy). Your family are proud of you but when you’ve gone who will know about what you did?
If any of our few remaining L03 members remember Trevor Tipping and would like to share any memories with Emma, please let Peter Harrison know.
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You have helped
In the last newsletter we included a request from Mrs. Sybil Lord for anyone who remembered Coder Arthur Leslie Proctor who died when L03 was sunk in 1941. Great success with this. Mrs. Lillie Warden, the widow of S/M Tom Warden who was the SBA in L03, wrote to say that she remembered Leslie Proctor very well. He was a great friend of Tom’s and Leslie had visited them at their home. She had also met Sybil and Lillie and Tom had visited her and Leslie’s parents after the sinking. They have now been put in touch again.
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In the May newsletter we asked for help in trying to establish the number of the house in Maltravers Road, Littlehampton where Lt. Cdr. Bradwell Turner had lived. You may remember that it the intention to have a Blue Plaque affixed to the house.
Our inquiries through the Association of Royal Navy Officers led to contact with Lt. Cdr. Turner’s daughter and the number of the house was found. However, Keith Batchelor now reports that the house has now been demolished! The possibility of putting the plaque on a nearby post is now being examined.
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A duck goes into a bar and asks "Do you have any fish? The barman replies, "This is a bar and we don't sell fish", so the duck leaves.
The next day, the duck returns and asks, "Do you have any fish". The barman grabs the duck and screams, "I told you yesterday, this is a bar and we don't sell fish. If you ask again, I'll nail your feet to the floor".
The next day, the duck returns and asks, "Do you have any nails?" The barman sighs and says, "No, we do not have any nails". The duck says, "Good, do you have any fish"?
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A PART OF A LIFE
1935 - 1947
by Victor John Bunyan Durey
continued
CHAPTER FOUR
Mid-June arrived and I spent ten days in the Big Smoke at home on Foreign Draft Leave. Once more I was on my travels. The new Tribal Class Destroyers were coming out of the shipyards and were being "crewed up". I found myself mounting the gangway of the COSSACK carrying kit-bag and hammock. She was due to join the Med Fleet and once again I was to see the inland sea. She was to be "my home and works" for the next six months. After various shake-up trials we set off for the Straits. The Tribals (we were the third I believe) were quite heavily armed compared with the average destroyer then in service, carrying four twin turrets of the 4.7", plus torpedo tubes a'plenty. She was a nice friendly new ship and the time I spent on her was pleasant. I found that aboard her (in her!) I was to be the no. 4 of one of the twin 4.7". Except for a practice shoot or two, I hardly saw the gun. My duties aboard were numerous and equally as interesting as each other. Attached to the Bos'n's Party on being made up to Able Seaman in September '38, I learnt many a trick or two!
We visited places that I had not seen in BARHAM - Marseilles and Istanbul to name but two. The visit to the French port was to be remembered for years afterwards. I believe that my love of the Med was sealed during that visit. I could have found it easy to become a beachcomber, if not a Lotus Eater! At the Bosphorus port I was part of a detachment of matelots to march through the town with fixed bayonets at the slope. What it was all about I know not. At a local football ground we swaggered up and down, supposedly marching, and for a spell giving our Gunner's Mate a heart attack! We had been earmarked as a modern piece of Brit. Navy to show the flag in various ports of the Black Sea and we may well have floated around the Danube for a time, but unfortunately, that part of the cruise was cancelled and we had to tear off to Alexandria. Musso was at it or summat!. At Malta during my COSSACK days I got to know the place. Our "trot" was in Sliema Creek and we were but a pennyworth of Diesah" (Dghajsa) ride from shore, usually landing on the steps that led up to the "Cairo" bar. A grand and popular first and last bar!). Sadly, it is no longer there, as are not hundreds of others throughout the island, as we were to note in '82-'83 on holidays! No fleet, no jacks, no jacks, no bars! Such is life. Another favourite haunt (and this is still there) was the Hole in the Wall, which was only a short walk from Sliema Front. A “Garry" (Karri), the local horse-drawn taxi, would soon whip you into Floriana or Valletta if really bright light living was needed. I like to think that my shore training was assisting my training afloat to build me up to become a defender of the union flag! I was also for a temporary period to join the Salvation Anny, not to bang cymbals or such like, but to simply dodge Sunday Church services. Two of us, "Jonesy-boy" and myself, used to be allowed ashore, providing we were in harbour, on Sunday mornings for two hours. And the Cairo never closed its doors! We quaffed Blue Tops. Dai Jones was my oppo on the COSSACK. My hammock dhobeying partner. We charged a tanner a throw for scrubbing other blokes' hammocks and for a time we also used to repair boots and shoes. Proper snobs! He was a Larry Adler in the making, and such was Jonesy's ability on the mouth organ that he was called upon to give us a tune on the upper deck as we ploughed our way across the pond.