One man's war and the ship he called 'a friend'
Leading aircraftsman, Alf Green, and his friends leaned over the starboard rail of the liner "Llangibby Castle" and settled down to enjoy the cruise. Well, perhaps not what you might call a "luxury cruise", for the liner had been stripped of every unnecessary fitting to make room for 1,400 service men, and her sleek, white lines were heavily camouflaged with green and black dull paint.
They were four days out into the bleak Atlantic, in January, 1942, on the long voyage to Singapore, through seas menaced by the continual presence of lurking German U-boats.
Suddenly one of Alf's companions nudged him. "Look at that big fish," he said. But another shouted - "That's no fish, its a tin bastard!" and the next thing they knew, they were picking themselves up from the other side of the ship, with echoes of a great explosion ringing in their ears.
Article taken from the Tamworth Herald
The 40 men lost in a torpedo attack were burried at sea.
It was, of course, a torpedo - and it had completely blown away the stern of the vessel. The rudder had gone, the defensive gun was blown overboard - and 30 men were missing.
They limped into the Azores for temporary repairs, and then across to Gibraltar for a complete overhaul before setting out again.
But their voyage was never to be completed, for as they steamed up the coast of Africa, news came that Singapore had fallen to the Japanese Army - and the "Llangibby Castle" was diverted to North Africa.
There the Eighth Army was reforming under Montgomery, and Alf and his fellow armourers were kept busy on the Hurricanes and Spitfires which eventually forced Rommel into a full retreat.
"It's funny," says Alf, who now lives in retirement at Harlaston, "all of us felt a great affection for the "Llangibby Castle", for she and the Captains' seamanship undoubtably saved our lives, and we kept hearing about her during the war. While we were working on the Spits and Hurricanes she was busy bringing troups in, and afterwards she took part in the landings at Scicily.
Alf, who then lived in Edingale, was 17 when war broke out and as soon as he was 18 he joined the RAF training as an armourer.
During that hectic summer when the Battle of Britain was being fought in our skies, he was one of the thousands busy from dawn to dusk servicing the armaments of the fighters who fought off Hitler's invasion.
After the North Africa campaign he returned to England - landing here on D-Day. On the other side of our islands on the same day, his old friend "The Llangibby Castle" was taking part in the first grand assault on the Normandy Beaches, carrying 18 assault craft and 1,500 troups. Alf went to Linconshire, with the 12th bomber squadron, and there he worked until peace was won in 1945.
A grim peace for many, as he found out when he went to work for the Control Commission in Germany. There he helped to cope with the hundreds and thousands of homeless people, the "displaced persons", many of whom did not know who they were or where they had come from.
They had been grabbed from their homes and sent to work in forced labour camps, men, women and children, but were at last helped to settle in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world.
After that, Alf returned to Tamworth, became a miner at Pooley and Amington collieries, and worked for some years as an ambulance driver.
Many will remember him latterly when he was a technician in the Engineering Department in Tamworth College for 12 years.
In 1954 he bought his first television set- and there he saw his old friend "Llangibby Castle" for the last time. She had survived the war, been reconditioned in 1947 and resumed her carrer carrying passengers on the West African run. After seven more active years she was making her final trip - a fine old ship with an excellent war record, on her way to the breakers yard.
Next week is Battle of Britain week, and Alf, with other ex-RAF men, will be working hard to raise funds for the 'Wings' appeal which maintains homes and welfare services for the Royal Air Force Association.
On September 14th, they also have a concert at the Assembly Rooms with the Western Band of the RAF and Tamworth Male Voice Choir, profits going to the same good cause.
