HMS Victory 1938, Portsmouth

Martin joined the Royal Navy in 1938 when he was 18 years old but it wasn't his first time at sea.

"I ran away from home when I was 14 and ended up in Hull," explains Martin. "I was living at the Salvation Army and washing dishes to pay for my keep. I'd been there a week when the chief engineer from one of the trawlers came in asking if there were any waifs and strays looking for work so I signed up.

"I worked on the trawlers for three years then went back home to Glasgow. My stepfather wanted me to become a stonemason and I gave it a go but it wasn't for me so I went down to the Bath Street recruiting office and sat outside till it opened."

Martin did the examination there and then and six weeks later on May 24, 1938 he received a letter telling him he'd been accepted.

Martin's most prestigious posting was aboard the Empress of Australia, the ship that took King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Canada for their Royal Tour of 1939.

He had just finished his training when Neville Chamberlain gave his famous "peace in our time" speech and he was posted to HMS Glasgow - the only Glasgow man aboard!

In the early stages of the war Martin found himself on lot of North Sea patrols with trips further north as the coalition government because more concerned about the threat to Norway.

"The Norwegians didn't want anything to do with us at the beginning," says Martin. "They even threatened us because we were in their waters but eventually they called for us when the Germans invaded."

From HMS Glasgow Martin was transferred to the Ambuscade, the only ship he served on that was torpedoed.

"We took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk then headed north to the Atlantic," says Martin, who has eight decorations. "In the Forces you're trained to do a job and you just do it - you either kill or be killed. You don't breathe easy until after the action.

Ships crew

"We knew we'd been torpedoed but it's difficult to keep track of everything that's going on when you're trying to keep on top of what you're supposed to do in a crisis like that. It was then that I heard my most feared words and the two words that still fill me with dread to this day - abandon ship. When I heard that I knew all hope was lost."

Martin was picked up from the icy water off the coast of Iceland and still has a scar from the wound he sustained. From the Ambuscade he was then transferred to the King George V, the ship that helped sink the Bismarck.

"We ran back and forth between Scapa Floe and Murmansk in convoys with the Merchant Navy which was carrying supplies for Russia," explains Martin. "We were lying at Scapa Floe when we received orders to sail for the Atlantic because the Bismarck had broken out. We'd been at sea for four days when the word came through from the bridge that HMS Hood had been sunk and the Bismarck was heading for France.

"The aircraft carrier Victorious was with us and we headed off on the search for her. Another patrol spotted her and two cruisers picked her up but they were told to hang back until we got there. We met her the next morning and in the meantime the Victorious carried out another raid and one of the planes hit her in the back end and knocked her rudders out. We caught her because she could only go round in circles. We opened up at 11,000 yards and kept closing in, altering course all the time. HMS Rodney was with us and eventually she turned turtle but was still floating so HMS Gloucestershire torpedoed her so she would sink.

"I didn't see any of the outside action because I was closed up in the gun turrets and all I could see was what was through the telescopes. The only communication we got was from the bridge to fire. I couldn't really explain how I felt - all I remember was that my heart and it was shear relief when we were the victors."

Conditions at sea were pretty terrible for Martin with temperatures hitting -45F.

"Most of the time there was a layer of ice over everything and we couldn't eve fire the guns or they would have split open," he recalls.

"When I was on duty I was closed up in the gun turrets but when there was no action we just loafed about smoking cigarettes. The cold was really bad but the conditions were cramped so we'd often be sweating with condensation running down the walls which sometimes froze. We didn't really think about it - we just got on with the job. . I suppose it sounds like a rough life but life is what you make it."

Martin later qualified as a diver and transferred to the Admiralty Sea Salvage. He was diving in Inveraray, creating a harbour with the Combined Forces when the news came through that the war was over.

"We were just relieved," he says. "Luckily I didn't have to go to the Far East but my best friend did. For me that was the end of the war and I left the Navy shortly afterwards. I worked in the Persian Gulf as a diver but when I came home in 1950 there was a letter waiting for me from the Navy recalling me for Korea.

"I ran away from home when I was just a boy of 14 but I definitely returned home a man."