Donald Delves' War, Part 2 : Cousin Lost on HMS Glorious, and How I Came to Join the Army.

This story has been written onto the BBC People’s War site by CSV Storygatherer Robin.D.Bailey on behalf of the author Victor Donald Delves. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

My cousin, Jimmy Wright, was drowned during the last war, he was serving on the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious when she went down in June 1940 with the loss of 1204 lives off Norway.

Blacksmith P.O. J.W. “Jimmy” Wright was the son of my father’s sister. My grandfather was also drowned when serving in the Navy, so it seems my family were not very lucky whilst serving in the Navy.

My dad was born in Devonport, so had a naval background, being brought up among naval people, but he decide to join the Army. I also joined the Army and returned home. Had we both been in the Navy things could have turned out different.

I had intended to join the Navy with a young man from my home town, but he did not turn up at the recruiting centre. I was about to leave, when another local boy came in and during our chat, I told him my friend had let me down; He said “Come with me, I am volunteering for the
Infantry.” I said “O.K. lets go.” and that was it! I joined the Hampshire Regiment.

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