“That’s the spirit, boy. Get behind a bloody great gun and knock the hell out of somebody.”
With these words G. W. Mattin’s employer gave his full support when he volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1940. As soon as he reached his eighteenth birthday, he left the security of a reserved occupation on a large farm near Newmarket and enlisted.
He trained as an asdic operator and joined the warship HMS London. Soon he was in the Mediterranean, as part of 15th Cruiser Squadron, running the gauntlet of U-boats and divebombers to escort vital supply ships to the besieged island of Malta.
Later, in the Battle of the Atlantic, he was again helping to protect merchant shipping from the U-boat menace.
From this vivid account we can begin to understand what it must have been like to live through those times – all the excitement and adventure and the comradeship of men risking their lives together, all depending on one another.
With these words G. W. Mattin’s employer gave his full support when he volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1940. As soon as he reached his eighteenth birthday, he left the security of a reserved occupation on a large farm near Newmarket and enlisted.
He trained as an asdic operator and joined the warship HMS London. Soon he was in the Mediterranean, as part of 15th Cruiser Squadron, running the gauntlet of U-boats and divebombers to escort vital supply ships to the besieged island of Malta.
Later, in the Battle of the Atlantic, he was again helping to protect merchant shipping from the U-boat menace.
From this vivid account we can begin to understand what it must have been like to live through those times – all the excitement and adventure and the comradeship of men risking their lives together, all depending on one another.
