The day began early for boy seamen attending the training facility at HMS St George on the Isle of Man. Cross-country runs would be followed by an hour’s swim in a cold camp pool. Daily lessons and endless sewing and scrubbing meant that there was no free time.
This must have been a huge shock to the system for a 16 year old. Alan George joined the Royal Navy as a ‘boy second class’ in 1944, signing up for 12 years’ service. Initially he was very excited. However, his feelings soon changed when he reached the camp at Douglas.
“Alan was my husband Steve’s father,” explains Sally George from Beverley, Yorkshire. “He was born in the village of Abbotts Ann, Hampshire, in 1927.” His parents Erroll and Alice George married after a whirlwind romance.
“As a boy, Alan liked reading, helping on local farms and singing in the church choir. Perhaps he joined the Navy because he wanted to spread his wings.”
Perhaps he joined the Navy because he wanted to spread his wings
Sally has been given a priceless glimpse into his experiences via letters that were handed to her after Alan died in 2017. He corresponded with his parents several times a week during initial training. “I found Alan’s letters heartbreaking, because he wrote of feeling terribly homesick.”
He arrived at HMS St George on 5 January after an exhausting journey in which he was seasick. He found it hard to fit in because the other boys swore so much, and he missed his family intensely.
Alan lamented that he had to do extra swimming because he was a “backward swimmer”, and one cross-country run “nearly killed him”. He begged to come home.
Alan lamented that he had to do extra swimming because he was a “backward swimmer”
“It must have been awful for Erroll and Alice to know he was suffering. The family wrote every few days offering encouragement and sending cakes, but he was still desperate to leave.”
The camp’s padre offered his support, and Alan started to enjoy shore leave and cinema trips. Gradually, he adapted to Navy life and his parents must have been relieved when he wrote to say, “The Navy’s all right when you get to know it properly.”
Alan completed his training and began active service. “In December 1945, he sailed on HMS Cleopatra to Singapore and helped to bring home prisoners of war – a harrowing experience he never talked about.”
On his return in 1946, Alan met his future wife Josephine in Southsea, Portsmouth. A year later, he was on Cleopatra when it escorted HMS Vanguard as it carried George VI and the royal family on a visit to South Africa.
Back in Portsmouth, Alan was posted to an experimental torpedo boat and damaged his back during a torpedo recovery. “That was the end of his career in the Navy, and he spent months in hospital. Marriage to Josephine had to be postponed until 1951.”
The pair settled in Birmingham, and had three sons. Alan learnt to live with his back problems, and became area manager of a cleaning company. He was also a scoutmaster, stood as a Liberal Party candidate in two general elections, and worked in Saudi Arabia in water management.
“My father-in-law was a family man, and outgoing in an ordered sort of way. After a rocky start, I believe Alan’s time in the Navy gave him confidence in life.”
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