My Grandad's Royal Navy Album

This is the story of my grandad who served in the Royal Navy during WW2. My dad keeps an album of his father's time spent in the Pacific and I have uploaded some photos from this.

My grandad was conscripted at the age of 17 and had to take tests to determine his physical and mental capabilities. He passed these very well and was assigned to the Royal Navy as a decoder. His ship was a frigate HMS Palladin.

When he first left for the Far East, he was quite lonely and scared, and used to write home a lot. My great grandfather and grandmother used to send him parcels with gifts and food. He mentioned visiting Ceylon a lot, which is now Sri Lanka.

He was a very good footballer and played in the Royal Navy football team. He played in midfield.

His job was a decoder, which meant intercepting Japanese messages. There was one occasion where the ship was under attack by the Japanese and he spotted a suicide plane coming towards the ship. He shouted to the gunner, who trained the guns on the plane and destroyed it.

He was present at the surrender by Japanese forces to Lord Mountbatten. He also visited Hiroshima after the atom bomb had been dropped by the US.

Being in the Royal Navy so young and experiencing what he did, I believe it affected him quite badly during his life.