Wartime Experiences of John Leslie Carter - from schoolboy to sailor. Part 3

Part 3.

Shortly before leaving Monas Isle my progress towards being commissioned was reinstated and I was, therefore, proceeding to HMS King Alfred via the naval barracks at Portsmouth. Whilst waiting at Portsmouth I had the first chance to see my sister for a long time. She had joined the WRNS., and was based at the Fleet Air Arm Station at Worthy Down near Winchester.
Shortly before Christmas 1943 I joined King Alfred as an officer cadet and went first to a school in Hove, Sussex, here we started our preliminary training, part of which was morse code and semaphore for neither of which had I received any training consequently this part of my training was extended from two weeks to three weeks. During this period you were housed in digs with local residents. Fortunately I had an aunt and uncle who lived just round the corner from my digs so my Christmas Dinner was assured! From Hove I moved to Lancing College, which had been taken over by the Navy, for the next six weeks of training, mostly this involved classroom instruction and the Lieutenant in charge of our division was an ex schoolmaster. On arrival at Lancing we were issued with a white cap band and also told that certain establishments in Brighton were “off limits” including The Dome and Sherry’s Dance Hall, the white cap band made for easy identification if you disobeyed! At the end of six weeks those of us still left returned to Hove to what was and now still is a sports centre. The swimming pool had been boarded over and the underground car park converted into sleeping quarters. More classroom instruction followed together with an introduction to boat handling in Shoreham Harbour. The Navy had commandeered a number of cabin cruisers and I enjoyed this experience and found I could cope well. As far I was concerned things seemed to be going well and I reached the stage of being measured for a sub-lieutenant’s uniform at Gieves, naval tailors were based in houses opposite King Alfred. At this point I developed impetigo and was sent to the sick bay and by the time I returned to King Alfred my division had moved on and I was allotted to another but almost immediately I was called before a board and told I had not made the grade and was returning to Portsmouth, two hours later I was on the train, brutal but quick. By this time about a third of each intake was being failed probably because the need for new officers was diminishing but maybe I was not mature enough to qualify although I saw a few who had succeeded despite shortcomings!
I duly arrived back at the Royal Naval Barracks at Portsmouth minus white cap band with the exalted rank of able seaman and was assigned to guard duties whilst awaiting the next move in my naval career.
Whilst so engaged at one of the main gates a lone German plane flew over Portsmouth, although it did not drop any bombs all the anti aircraft guns opened up and with all the shrapnel flying I retreated hastily into the sentry box, as this was of wooden construction it is doubtful that it provided much protection! Fortunately it was dark so it is doubtful that the aircrew could see much of what was going on in the harbour or the Solent, which was just as well because strange structures were beginning to appear in the latter. At the time we did not know what they were, they were beginning to assemble parts of the Mulberry Harbours for towing over to France. Whilst on guard duties we lived in the guard hut alongside the main gate and in off duty time I participated in quite a serious card gambling school of which the Master at Arms took not the slightest notice - rather different from my Collingwood experience! I had had no leave for a considerable time and my father travelled down to Winchester so that we could meet up for the day. At this time the whole of Southern England was a prohibited area for anyone living outside it in preparation for D Day. Unwittingly he had crossed the boundary and was ordered by the police to leave the area immediately so our meeting was a short one.
One advantage enjoyed by candidates who had failed at King Alfred was that they could nominate which branch of the service they would like to serve in and I plumped for Coastal Forces not having any liking for big ships which seemed like floating barracks. Whilst waiting for drafting a number of us were sent across the harbour to HMS Dolphin, the submarine base at Gosport. There they had a large tank about 40 feet deep in which they trained submariners to use Davis escape apparatus to escape from a submarine trapped under water. We were duly equipped with this apparatus led into a water lock chamber which was then flooded the door opened and we progressed somewhat rapidly to the surface! At this point we were told what it was all about, they wanted volunteers to train to remove mines and other obstacles from under the water on the invasion beaches. I have never been at home submerged in water and what was proposed had absolutely no appeal to me!
Having turned down the chance of becoming a hero or a dead man the draft chit eventually arrived and on 9th May 1944, my 20th birthday, along with five others I set out for the Coastal Force training base, HMS St. Christopher, at Fort William in Scotland. The journey took 30 hours partly due to the fact that we had to travel via Edinburgh, Fort William was on the LNER system. Between King’s Cross and Edinburgh we had a compartment to ourselves, so the two smallest were consigned to the luggage racks whilst the remainder slept two to a seat. Arriving at St. Christopher we took up residence in nissen huts located in the gardens of the Alexandra Hotel which had been requisitioned by the Navy. Our training there lasted six weeks, a lot of it devoted to learning about the handling of coastal craft which were classified as small boats. One week was spent on a “B” class motor launch during which we did a trip through the lochs and round the islands on the West Coast. Today one would pay hundreds of pounds to do the same. The skipper was obviously well known in the area for we stopped at one island to collect a large supply of fresh eggs! Dry weather is at a premium in that part of the world and a lot of the time it rained hard, however the beer was great, best I had tasted. One Sunday I took a walk almost to the top of Glen Nevis, the scenery was awe inspiring . Less attractive was a night we spent on the mountains on an exercise with the commandos who were based nearby. Listening to the radio on 6th June we heard the news that the allies had landed in Normandy, difficult to find anywhere in UK further removed from the scene of action!

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