As a child you don't really
understand much about 'grown up' stuff and in
our little village the kids certainly didn't have
any concept of the war that had just ended. Looking
back I think that all the older generation tried
to keep it away from us and in that they did a
good job. Naturally there was a lot of evidence
about in smashed buildings and strange signs that
said things like 'Danger Keep Out Un-cleared ammunition
area', but to us they were 'normal'. Then there
were the damaged people, some in body, some in
mind and some in both - Captain (D) was one of
the latter.
I must confess to being rather ashamed to have
forgotten all about The Captain, he was rather
a unique character. What jogged the memory was
that my son got a DVD for me called 'Sink The
Bismarck' it's an old film (about 1960) but
I had, for one reason or another, never seen
it. I watched it last night and one 5 second
scene brought Captain (D) back to mind.
At the start of the war he was a full Commander
and not long after the onset of hostilities
he was promoted to Captain and put in charge
of a flotilla of Destroyers, hence the title
'Captain (D)'. The first three years were tough
going; they staggered from one battle to another,
never finding any rest. In 1940 his fiancé
was killed in an air-raid on London and I guess
this would have knocked the guy around pretty
bad, but it was in 1943 that something destined
to ultimately ruin his life, struck.
There were four Brit destroys and they were
about to attack two German heavy cruisers. Now
you might think four against two was rather
unsporting, well, let me tell you, the might
was certainly still on the German side; they
had the capacity to sink all four destroyers
(probably Tribals, I never knew) before the
latter even got into range. However, destroyers
do have one sting in their tail and that's torpedoes
each ship had six to a side meaning that, in
all, they could fire 48 of the things at whoever
annoyed them - BUT, you had to get rather close.
In my minds eye I can see the four ships, in-line-abreast,
coming out of the night with it's weak moon,
engines at ''full ahead' (or 'flank' if you
are American), hurtling towards the two giant
enemy vessels. Captain (D) on the open bridge
of his ship ordering the signalman to sent to
the other ships, 'Close the range with all dispatch'
then ... It wasn't that his ship was hit and
then sank, no, it wasn't like that at all.
His ship was hit and then just wasn't there
anymore. Men closed up at guns and torpedoe
stations, engineers anxiously watching pressure
gauges, damage control parties closed up at
stations ready to start repairs, all living
breathing creatures then, nothing, I doubt that
they even heard the shells coming. By what I
was told the old girl must have taken around
four or five, 6 inch shells from a single broadside
and she wasn't designed for that. Combined with
her own ammunition the explosion instantly vaporized
the ship and all but three who sailed in her.
Captain (D) and two boy bridge messengers survived
by being flung high, then into the sea. Naturally
they all had shattered foot and leg bones from
the percussion through the deck. How they survived
to be picked up is another story and one sufficient
to have its own book - but picked up they were.
One German heavy cruiser sunk, one limped away
badly damaged. From the other side; one fleet
destroyer sunk, two badly damaged and on fire,
but still with engines operational, one hardly
touched except that most of the bridge officers
were killed by shrapnel. So, three of the little
family came home again.
Captain (D) spent the rest of the war in hospital
and then manning a desk at the Admiralty. He
had no family so, when peace came, he moved
down to our village. I think he didn't want
to be with people who knew him as he had been
- now he walked heavily dependent on a cane
and with his right foot turned out, at that
time the damage had just been too bad to fully
repair. In the village he always had the leg
and foot problem, nobody knew him any other
way. He bought rather a nice house about a mile
out of the village and was looked after by a
local couple who 'lived in' as cook/housekeeper
and gardener/chauffeur, between them they got
on 'right fine'.
So, the walking problem was brought into the
realm of being 'handled' but there was another
problem.
At times Captain (D) would be found just sitting
and weeping, he used to whisper "Oh Missy,
Oh Missy" you have to remember his fiancé
had been killed early on in the war. Whoever
was around would quietly sit beside him, and
when the episode was over would help get him
back to his house. Nobody thought much about
it, it was the way of post war England, and
I'm sure many other countries.
Now this doesn't mean that he had gone soft,
he certainly wasn't that. Plain talking, absolutely
no political correctness (he would have loved
that term) appearing quite stern but in reality
a very 'nice' man, and a true gentleman. Even
with his leg problems the single ladies of the
village were always twittering around, he would
have made a super catch for one of them. Alas
they were to be disappointed; however he did
form a liaison with Mrs. Pruce (widow) who ran
the sweet shop come tobacconist and she often
got a bit red in the face when sprung leaving
his house.
I remember one very funny incident, but you
probably had to be there to appreciate it -
however I will try and explain.
The Captain and Mrs Pruce had come over for
a summer afternoon tea and dad and he had then
sat back to enjoy a gin and tonic or two, bit
early in the day but all rules are meant to
be broken. Also turning up following the tea
(no tea was drunk) was the fete committee from
the village, mostly women but there was, if
I remember correctly, one man. The fete was
held once a year and it was held in the grounds
of our house, we had a huge spot to the west
of the main building and it had great access
to the road via double gates.
Now I should explain that dad and The Captain
could sit and sip drinks for an hour without
a word being spoken, it was the sort of company
where you didn't feel obliged to talk.
Anyway, the committee was there to decide which
stall would go where and they were making a
real fist of it. This person didn't want to
be near this person - this person couldn't man
that stall because ... etc, etc, etc.
Suddenly there was a booming 'Enough' and The
Captain struggled out of his chair and over
to the long table where the committee was sitting.
"Stop this prattle at once" he loomed
over them and there was silence. "Now"
he continued "You" pointing at some
little lady with his walking stick "Find
a tin".
" What for"? she stammered.
" Just do it you blasted female, ask the
lady of the house USE YOUR BRAIN FOR ONCE"
.
" Now look here" Mrs Elliot (a leader
in the community) started to get to her feet.
"You mustn't talk to the committee like
that". The Captain swung around to face
this new threat his stick about an inch from
her very ample chest. "Sit down" he
yelled "Or by god and bad favour I will
chuck the lot of you into the street" -
she sat down.
A tin was produced and on the captain's instructions
the names of all the stalls were placed on slips
of paper and put in the tin. Then my mother
(who was desperately trying not to laugh) pulled
out the stall names and placed then on the map
in the spots designated for a stall.
" Now" said The Captain "that
is where each stall will be - does anybody have
any objections"? there were no objections
- the meeting was over, all was decided. Dad
and The Captain got back to their gin and tonics.
Even at a young age I think it was assumed
that one day (as I did) I would enter the Royal
Navy. I remember that The Captain once gave
me a valuable bit of advice, he said: -
" Any good captain knows that there are
two sets of rules that apply. In peacetime a
captain's first duty is to his crew and second
duty to his ship. In wartime his first duty
is to his ship and second to the crew - live
by that rule and you won't go far wrong".
I was actually serving when he died, it was
a great loss to the village. I think that he
also built walls to keep past horrors away,
but with age these walls get weak and stuff
comes back to haunt you. The women of the village
all said that he died of a broken heart - and
who are we to disagree? One interesting fact
that did come to light was about 'Missy'. We
had all assumed that this was his fiancé
but we were wrong. Captain (D) actually had
two loves in his life, one his finance and the
other was 'Missy' the ship's cat.
