From Battleships to VE Day in Queens Gardens Hull

Story told to Christine Barker at the VE Day Celebrations in Beverley 2005

I joined the Navy on 17th Birthday in 1943. On the Sunday before VE Day in 1945 we were on a ship, on patrol in the Atlantic and we were making our way back to Greenock.

At six o’clock I was on the bridge and we got ‘action stations’ we’d picked up the sound of a submarine and we had action stations, we attacked for an hour but we lost it.

We made our way back to Greenock and the ship was going to have a boiler clean so half the ships crew were told they could have five days shore leave and I got that.
So I was on my way back to Hull on the train to Leeds, as I changed trains at Leeds to get to Hull, a lady said to me “it’s over”, I said “what’s over” she replied “the war it’s over” I told her “it’s not over at all — well it wasn’t yesterday when I was fighting”. She assured me it was and that Churchill was coming on the radio that night to say so. Any way she was right and by the time I got home to Hull I heard him on the radio. So then on VE Day I went with many people to Queens Gardens in Hull to celebrate.

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