SM1 – Sam Kilburn.
| Title | Home Guard & Royal Navy Memories |
| Date | 1939 – 1945 |
| Location | Aireborough/War Operational Areas. |
| Written By | Sam Kilburn. |
| Comment | Born: February 1926. |
“When war broke out in 1939, I was still in the leaving class at South View School.
At the time of the outbreak of war I was taking papers for Parkers Newsagents shop at the bottom of the High Street (photo below SM2, shows Sam and his friend Henry Ives standing in front of the shop)
I left school in 1940 and went to work for my uncle Albert at Nunroyd Mills, but I hadn’t been there very long before I was called back to school to play for the school football team as we were playing Otley in the final, and I am pleased to say we won the cup that year.
SM2 – Sam Kilburn.
In 1941, I joined the Home Guard, under age and although they found out I was under age and sent the police round to check with my mother, I was allowed to stay in and keep my uniform, but was not allowed to have a rifle until I was sixteen.
We used to meet and train in using weapons, I joined a machine gun team and was taught to strip down and re assemble a Browning Water Cooled machine gun in next to no time.(Bottom photo shows Sam on the right)
We also used to go to the shooting butts on Rombalds Moor for target practice and to the shooting range at Yeadon Aerodrome for small arms practice.
We did bayonet and hand grenade training in the field just above the park in Kirk Lane (now a housing estate) and for throwing Molotov Cocktails and hand grenades we would go to the quarry at the bottom of Hawthorn Terrace, now also built over
SM3 – Sam Kilburn.
Around this time one of my mates joined the Navy underage and when he came on leave in his new uniform I was green with envy and couldn’t wait to get in myself.
I altered my birth certificate and off I went to the recruiting office in Vicar Lane, Leeds where I was interviewed by a big Marine Sergeant who took one look at my birth certificate and said ” You know what I could do to you for altering this?”
The thought of being shot at dawn came to mind but all he did was tear up my birth certificate and sent me home with a good telling off.
I saved up and managed to get a new certificate for five shillings and fourpence and I was off again to try and join the Navy as a boy seaman with a lad called Joe Scott from Rawdon, this time we were successful and were given forms for our parents consent, Joe got his signed and went off to H.M.S. St. George on the Isle of Man, but my parents wouldn’t sign.
I carried on as a Machine Gunner until one day I saw a notice in the Post Office advertising a scheme called the Youth Entry scheme for joining the Navy.
I immediately got the forms filled them in and sent them off.
Some weeks later I got a letter and a travel warrant and was told to report to Darlington for a set of interviews lasting three days and if successful it would mean that I could go into the Navy as an Officer Cadet.
I was successful and was put on reserve until I was seventeen and was given a badge to sew on my Home Guard Uniform
When I was seventeen I was sent to H.M.S. Ganges at Shotley near Ipswich for seamanship training (Top photo)
As an officer cadet I was put in charge of a mess in which I was one of the youngest members and I had to find some way of keeping the older men in order as I knew this was a test of my leadership qualities.
I did manage somehow and after about a month of training which included learning knots, square bashing, climbing the mast and swimming in a tropical suit, rowing a cutter up and down the river and learning semaphore, I chose to do a course in telegraphy and go into coastal forces which meant either submarines or motor torpedo boats.
I was now sent to H.M.S. Valkyrie on the Isle of Man which consisted of several commandeered hotels along the seafront at Douglas where I trained as a telegraphist for six months, also learning to touch type in order to type the Morse which was too fast to write clearly.
Whilst I was in the Isle of Man I met up with Joe Scott who was still at H.M.S. St. George and we arranged to go out together, I quite enjoyed my time in Douglas as there was plenty of food, plenty of entertainment and best of all no air raids so we could get a good nights sleep every night.
The hotels along the front were divided into various camps for the forces and also for interned aliens, Germans and Italian
SM4 – Sam Kilburn.
Our next port of call was Ramsgate where I almost got myself shot for dereliction of duty.
I had been given the midnight to 4am watch on deck and was to keep the ropes slackened off as the tide fell 30ft in Ramsgate harbour.
For the first hour I did my duty and then I decided to have a rest so I lay down on my bunk and placed a bayonet under my chin to keep me from falling asleep, unfortunately it didn’t work and the next thing I knew the Coxswain was shaking me violently and was red in the face and asking me what I thought I was doing as I had slept through my own watch and the next chaps watch it was 6a.m. and the boat was hanging perilously from the jetty and it took two crews to slacken off the ropes with the help of the now rising tide to float the boat again, needless to say I was put on Skippers report and was given 14 days “Jankers” which meant work or drill as required and also two weeks loss of pay.
SM5 – Sam Kilburn.
We carried on doing patrols etc until a week before the second front when some electricians came aboard and started fitting lights to the masthead and wiring them back to a key in my cabin.
We were sent over to the French coast on the night of June the fifth to act as a last signal station for the saturation bombing of the beaches before the D-Day landings.
When I used the Key the sky filled with bombers then knew just exactly how far to go before dropping their bombs.
Returning to Dartmouth on the morning of June the 6th I was called up onto the bridge by the Skipper and couldn’t believe my eyes as the whole horizon was full of ships of every description on their way to the French Coast.
We returned to Dartmouth picked up a number of black American soldiers and took them back to Omaha beach with the second wave.”
“After D-Day we patrolled the Channel chasing E-Boats as far away as the Hook of Holland.
We did stop one boat and took the crew prisoner, I was given a pistol and five rounds of ammunition and told to go aboard and get the confidential books etc, and if their operator gave me any trouble to get rid of him, fortunately for me he didn’t give me any trouble and I was able to get the books without any problems.
Soon after this we decommissioned M.T.677 and returned to H.M.S. Mercury at Portsmouth from whence I was drafted to the Far East.
I boarded SS Stratheden in Liverpool docks for my passage to Australia and spent three weeks at sea during which time we crossed the equator south of the straights of Bab el Mendeb and had the usual crossing the line ceremony, before reaching Freemantle where we had a couple of days shore leave before sailing to Melbourne and Sydney, where we disembarked and went to join H.M.S. Golden Hind a shore establishment.
As I entered the camp carrying my kit bag, a steaming bag and hammock and sweating in the 90 deg heat I was confronted by a big sign which stated ‘Extra blankets may be drawn at the Quartermasters store’ I was so hot I completely ignored it to my peril for by seven pm I was wearing my seaman’s sweater and oilskin coat to try to keep warm.
We were there almost a month during which time I was taken to stay with some ex-patriots called Eckford who had emigrated from Yeadon after the First World War and with whom I had a really great time visiting various beaches and playing golf with Jim at Pennant Hills golf course where he was the professional.
When I wasn’t with him I used to go to the British Centre in Sydney where you could play snooker and darts etc. and you could have a meal all for free, or to the Anzac buffet which was if anything better as you could also go to dances with the local women and even have a shower and bed for the night again all for free”.
“After about a month I joined H.M.S. Tyne a maintenance cruiser and destroyer depot ship which was manned by artisans… who were able to refit and repair ships which had been damaged, during the next few months we sailed up through the South Sea Islands, via Port Morseby, the Solomon Islands, the fleet anchorage at Manus in the Admiralty Islands, Carolinas, the Marianas and the Philippines to Hong Kong.
During our voyage up through the islands the Americans dropped their atom bombs and the war was brought to an end.
SM6 – Sam Kilburn.
“Our next port of call was Ramsgate where I almost got myself shot for dereliction of duty.
I had been given the midnight to 4am watch on deck and was to keep the ropes slackened off as the tide fell 30ft in Ramsgate harbour.
For the first hour I did my duty and then I decided to have a rest so I lay down on my bunk and placed a bayonet under my chin to keep me from falling asleep, unfortunately it didn’t work and the next thing I knew the Coxswain was shaking me violently and was red in the face and asking me what I thought I was doing as I had slept through my own watch and the next chaps watch it was 6a.m. and the boat was hanging perilously from the jetty and it took two crews to slacken off the ropes with the help of the now rising tide to float the boat again, needless to say I was put on Skippers report and was given 14 days “Jankers” which meant work or drill as required and also two weeks loss of pay.
We carried on doing patrols etc until a week before the second front when some electricians came aboard and started fitting lights to the masthead and wiring them back to a key in my cabin.
We were sent over to the French coast on the night of June the fifth to act as a last signal station for the saturation bombing of the beaches before the D-Day landings.
When I used the Key the sky filled with bombers then knew just exactly how far to go before dropping their bombs.
Returning to Dartmouth on the morning of June the 6th I was called up onto the bridge by the Skipper and couldn’t believe my eyes as the whole horizon was full of ships of every description on their way to the French Coast.
We returned to Dartmouth picked up a number of black American soldiers and took them back to Omaha beach with the second wave.”
“After D-Day we patrolled the Channel chasing E-Boats as far away as the Hook of …Holland.
We did stop one boat and took the crew prisoner, I was given a pistol and five rounds of ammunition and told to go aboard and get the confidential books etc, and if their operator gave me any trouble to get rid of him, fortunately for me he didn’t give me any trouble and I was able to get the books without any problems.
Soon after this we decommissioned M.T.677 and returned to H.M.S. Mercury at Portsmouth from whence I was drafted to the Far East.
I boarded SS Stratheden in Liverpool docks for my passage to Australia and spent three weeks at sea during which time we crossed the equator south of the straights of Bab el Mendeb and had the usual crossing the line ceremony, before reaching Freemantle where we had a couple of days shore leave before sailing to Melbourne and Sydney, where we disembarked and went to join H.M.S. Golden Hind a shore establishment.
As I entered the camp carrying my kit bag, a steaming bag and hammock and sweating in the 90 deg heat I was confronted by a big sign which stated ‘Extra blankets may be drawn at the Quartermasters store’ I was so hot I completely ignored it to my peril for by seven pm I was wearing my seamans sweater and oilskin coat to try to keep warm.
We were there almost a month during which time I was taken to stay with some ex-patriots called Eckford who had emigrated from Yeadon after the First World War and with whom I had a really great time visiting various beaches and playing golf with Jim at Pennant Hills golf course where he was the professional.
When I wasn’t with him I used to go to the British Centre in Sydney where you could play snooker and darts etc. and you could have a meal all for free, or to the Anzac buffet which was if anything better as you could also go to dances with the local women and even have a shower and bed for the night again all for free”.
“After about a month I joined H.M.S. Tyne a maintenance cruiser and destroyer depot ship which was manned by artisans… who were able to refit and repair ships which had been damaged, during the next few months we sailed up through the South Sea Islands, via Port Morseby, the Solomon Islands, the fleet anchorage at Manus in the Admiralty Islands, Carolines, the Marianas and the Philippines to Hong Kong.
During our voyage up through the islands the Americans dropped their atom bombs and the war was brought to an end.
We were ecstatic at first as we realized that we had survived and that we would soon be on our way home, but then we thought of the lives lost and ruined by mans inhumanity to man over the past six years, we were just grateful to have come through safely and looked forward to celebrating when we could get ashore in Hong Kong, but this was to be delayed as inflation was so bad that we had to wait until the allies printed new money before we were allowed ashore.
When we entered Hong Kong harbour we were surprised to see how the Chinese were living on Sampans whole families with no toilet facilities and very little room to move about and the water around them was filthy and full of sewage and litter and riddled with Typhoid.
When we did manage to get ashore we had some quite good times but we were warned that some of the areas like Wanchai on the waterfront were unsafe and we had to go through them on trams and not to go on our own as we may find ourselves robbed or worse.
At the end of the war General McArthur accepted unconditional surrender of the Japanese on board the battleship U.S.S. Missouri.
SM7 – Sam Kilburn.
“After a while in Hong Kong now that the war was ove…r we sailed North via Taiwan (then known as Formosa) to Okinawa and on to Yokohama Bay where we recaptured a First World War destroyer H.M.S. Thracian which had been in Japanese hands since the fall of Hong Kong.
The plan was to bring this ship back into commission and sail it back to Hong Kong as a victorious gesture, we managed to get the Thracian steaming full out around Yokohama Bay.
Soon she set off for Hong Kong but in the event she foundered in a typhoon off Okinawa and had to be towed into Hong Kong for salvage.
During our stay in Yokohama we were able to go ashore to Tokyo.
It was whilst we were in Yokohama that the telegraphist from H.M.S. Ariadne contacted me and said he had a friend of mine Laurence Beevers aboard who would like to talk to me, he put him on the radio telephone and we arranged a night ashore and when I knew he was coming back to the U.K. I asked him to take some things home for me which he did.
I also visited a rest camp at a place called Atami at the foot of Fuji Yama.
Soon Sir Bruce Fraser decided to fly his flag in H.M.S. Barfleur and travel down to see the Atomic fields at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and we were to accompany him.
As we sailed South past Kagoshima the volcano Sakura Jima blew its top and we had to pick up survivors as the lava flowed towards the sea.
Moving up the inland sea we saw many scuttled Japanese Warships and on arrival at Hiroshima we were met by the Yanks who took us in jeeps to see the devastation and the people who had survived.
We the sailed down to Nagasaki where the tour was repeated.
Whilst in Nagasaki I interviewed a Roman Catholic Priest who had been coming into Nagasaki when the bomb burst and I was able to record the interview on an old steel wire recorder.
He said that when he arrived and tried to help he found that all the medical supplies had been lost so he made poultices of anything suitable and put them on the worst burns, but unfortunately when they were taken off the flesh came with them so leaving people in agony and no doubt scarred for whatever life they had left”.
SM8 – Sam Kilburn.
“Eventually we sailed again for Hong Kong where we were given our Demob groups.
Having joined at a very early age I had a low group, number 54 in fact which meant that I would be among the earlier groups to be repatriated.
I was told I would be going home on H.M.S. Shropshire and did in fact board her, but then with eleven other men we were told that the Shropshire was overcrowded and we were put ashore again to await the arrival of H.M.S. Anson two weeks later and on which I eventually sailed home although to my mind we were even more overcrowded than on the Shropshire, any way we were on our way home and too excited to worry about overcrowding.
We sailed home via Singapore, Colombo, Aden up to the Red Sea to Suez, across the Mediterranean to Malta, (where the Maltese took a photo of us entering the Grand Harbour at Valetta)
where we stayed for a few days before going on through the Straights of Gibraltar and Bay of Biscay to Portsmouth, where we disembarked and returned to H.M.S. Mercury for demob.
We were fitted with our civilian demob suits and given our travel warrants and sent on leave in my case 56 days foreign service leave.
I had been at home for about a month when a brown envelope marked O.H.M.S. arrived informing me that I should return to Portsmouth as since the Admiralty couldn’t retrain telegraphists fast enough I was to be retrained for six months and was posted to H.M. Sirius in dry dock in Portsmouth.
My duties for the next 6 months were to check for incoming messages and maintain the batteries and equipment in the communication room and then I was free to go ashore whenever I liked, so it wasn’t too bad, but the time did seem to drag as I was dying to get home again and start living a civilian life”
Sam Kilburn.
Photo is H.M.S. Anson in Malta 1945
April 2013.
Consolidated by Jack Brayshaw. 20 August 2022.
Last updated: 20 August 2022.
