When Norman arrived back in the UK, in December 1944, he was given a couple of
weeks leave before he was sent for more training at H.M.S. Gosling at
Warrington (Cheshire).
Norman's job in the Fleet Air Arm was that of a radio
mechanic and the training at H.M.S.
Gosling was for air fitters and air mechanics and for those working on
electronics and radar.
On March 10th 1945, Norman was sent to Liverpool for embarkation
on R.M.S. (Royal Merchant Ship) Empress of Scotland. He wrote in his
diary:
Left England. A party
of girls from the dockers' canteen sang songs as we left the dock trying to
cheer us up. By Hell, but I felt terrible watching England slip away once
again.
The Empress of Scotland was a beautiful liner built
in 1929 by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. Originally
known as The Empress of Japan, on conversion to a troop carrier her name
had been changed on the special orders of Winston Churchill as it was against
regulations to change a ship's name in war-time. However, the irony of the
original name wasn't lost on anyone.
A high level of secrecy surrounded the embarkation and the
personnel were not informed until they were on their way to Sidney, Australia
that they were going to join the British Pacific Fleet which was already at war
with the Japanese.
To read more of this blog post click here to go to Writing a Family History website.
To read more about I Think I Prefer the
Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World
War II by N. Buckle & C. Murray click here to go to Spurwing ebooks website.
To sample and download the book click here to go to the Amazon website in the U.K and here for Amazon.com.