Julius 92 (5/9) Active service: “Like an idiot, I signed up for active service. Guess where they sent me? HMS Barcroft in the Orkney Islands! There’s nothing up there – I was real cheesed off! Our job was to lay a boom across the sea to stop the submarines getting through. After being posted around the Scottish coast, we sailed out to Gibraltar then to Naples then back to Gibraltar, to Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Brindisi – all the time doing salvaging work, though my work was as a stoker because it was a coal ship. Well once we got to Malta I’d had enough, so I passed some exams and they sent me to the Engine Room – much cleaner. I loved that because I could do my own washing and hang everything on the hot pipes to dry! I saw more action in the Blitz than I did at sea though. Finally, the ship was heading to Israel. Well, Palestine as was. So, I came off then, could’ve been a bit tricky. I demobbed.”