What is your name and number?

Harry Mutch LT/MX93815, its funny you never forget even if I’m now 82.

What was your job when war broke out?

I was a butcher with Willie Thom in George Street, up near “split the winds”

When were you called up?

About 18 months into the war 1941, you’ll be able to check from the stuff in my box you want to take to the school. My call up papers came through the post. I had to go to Woolmanhill for a medical.

What were your thoughts about going away?

You just had to get on with it, I was fit and I wanted to be part of the crowd. I had never been beyond Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire so it was an adventure. I had never been on a train. People went off in batches. The boys that were 20,21,22 went off together and right up to aged 45.

Had you a choice of what you were to be in?

If I had been able to drive I’d have gone to the desert but I went into the Navy instead. In with my letter where to go was my medical report. I had to go to H.M.S Royal Arthur, Skegness. It was a training camp in a Butlins Holiday Camp. I got chatting to a chap who was on the train; he was going to the same place. I was friendly with him during the six weeks training.

Your training. What was it like?

I enjoyed it because I was fit anyway. You got rifle drill, P.E and Gymnastics. At the end of the six weeks you then had to train for a specific job. I was a butcher so I was going to be a cook. The second six weeks were at the Lowestoft Cookery School. I did well and I still have my certificate. I had never had to cook before.

Describe your living quarters/daily routine

I was living in the training school. I had to sleep in a bunk bed. After the training I went back to Lowestoft to the Sparrow’s Nest (that’s what it was called) it was a holiday resort. None of my relatives had phones like today so you didn’t get a phone call, I didn’t really like writing letters but I did sometimes get a parcel with chocolate and a baked cake.

Did you like your uniform?

I never thought about it, you got it the first week, you got it with your inoculations, they filled your arm with poison then gave you your kit to lift, a big kit bag. You had to do your own washing, first time I’d ever washed clothes.

What happened next?

I got my first ship at Sheerness, on the Thames Estuary. There were twelve men on board; they were little gunboats, like little speedboats. I cooked for twelve. The coxswain decided on the menu. He was in charge of all the stores, the food, the paint the ropes everything and I forgot the waterproofs. You were three nights in three nights out. You got fired at; you’d dodge planes by hiding behind a buoy. You were told not to fire, to dodge the planes instead. The engine burned out so we had to go round to Campbelltown to get the boat repaired. During trials we ran into a Naval yacht (for detecting submarines) we made a right mess of the yacht, we peeled off the deck. We had to go back to the depot because the engine failed again.

I was then drafted up to Aberdeen, John Lewis Yard in the Torry Dock. We were staying in the Station Hotel and weren’t meant to go home. My house was just along from there so when they found out I was staying at home we got drafted back to Lowestoft. We had been on trials at the Bay of Nigg on the HMS Caldy.

We had been bad so when we got back to Lowestoft there was a great big F/S stamp on our station card. F/S stood for Foreign Service.

We were sent Glasgow. We joined a convoy and set sail. We didn’t know where. Everywhere was full of submarines. We were on an Australian Chill ship used for taking frozen lamb to Britain. It was called Arangee.

We were on our way to Malta.

We were drafted on board a ship. We started sweeping the Adriatic. It was an American Ship from Brooklyn BYMS that’s what it was called that stood for Brooklyn Yard Minesweeps. It was extremely dangerous, mines surrounded us. There were 3 kinds

1 Contact
2 Magnetic
3 Acoustic

1- Spikes stuck out of it and we swept with a big thing like a big scissors, which cut the wire, and the mine came up. The “coffin” ship came behind and sunk or blew them up.
2- the sweepers were made out of wood so thick they were non-magnetic.
3- the acoustic ones depended on noise so we put a big hammer over the side and banged it.

We had to sail up the Adriatic to clear the way for the troops. When the Germans shelled us we had to stop, it was pretty dangerous. Fighting was going on in Greece between the Greeks and the Yugoslavs.

Did you get any leisure time?

We got shore leave. We went to a rest camp in the mountains in Italy. You got to do absolutely nothing, you just relaxed. In the house where we lived there were young kids. They got to drink wine. They showed us their schoolbooks but they just got up and went off to play. We were drunk, but the kids weren’t, they were used to it!!! I liked there, you knew for certain you were going to be alive in the morning when you went to sleep at night. There was very little to do. We used to say, “what will we do tonight, will we get drunk or will we get drunk?” “ We’ll get drunk.” We helped with the “Hairst”-Harvest.

When we were in Yugoslavia we weren’t allowed shore leave. We weren’t allowed fresh water except for drinking. Tito didn’t allow it. We were on a small boat so we did manage to get shore leave but one night we “forgot” to go back so we were put in jail.

I said we had to wash in saltwater, you got special salt water soap, 21 days without a proper wash it was horrible. When you went ashore you stayed together and didn’t split up. I liked Venice, Trieste and Rome.

Did you have a girl in every port?

Of course! From 1924-1946 I was never home. Eventually when the war ended I got home overland on the troop train they were all airman. They had their own cutlery but we didn’t, we had to borrow knives and forks.

I spent my leave with my future brother-in-law. I had 60 days leave. He was up in Aberdeen staying with his auntie. That’s how I met my wife, through them. I got demobbed from Lowestoft. There was an awful lot of damage done there. Lowestoft was badly bombed but that’s another story. When I was there things got stolen, they cut the bottom out of your bag and stole things. We used to get a “chittie” for our meal. We got a chittie for downtown Waller’s Café. One time the guy who was giving out the chitties recognised my accent so he said “Here Jock you can get a chit for the uptown Waller’s.” It was very posh. I was fair pleased with myself. I was looking forward to eating a posh meal. Just before I got to the restaurant, it had been bombed and 88 people had been killed. He could have got me killed!

Do you have any regrets?

No regrets.

Did any of your family get hurt in Aberdeen?

My old man, my father had glass embedded in his back. He jumped for cover against the windows of the bank at the end of Maberly Street. He took cover because there was a bomb coming down George Street.

Do you think the youngsters today appreciate what was done and how lucky they are?

I don’t think so, I really don’t.

Sunday 30-01-05