Page Fourteen
Late on the evening of Wednesday, 20th January 1943 the entire Regiment, less Trooper Tommy Abbott, entrained for Liverpool. Conjecture (later proven wrong) was that Tommy, due to his being court-martialed, has decided to stay at his home in Éire.
Early next morning our train arrived at Pier Head Station alongside Liverpool's Floating Landing Stage.
After detraining we boarded a ship which I had seen so many times sailing, to and from Canada, on the River Mersey, the HMT Duchess of York. On the 22nd she cast off the mooring ropes to drop anchor mid-river right opposite my home town Wallasey. The home on Egremont Promenade, where I had spent much of early boyhood, was clearly visible. (Only when constructing this site was it realised that there was a fellow Wallaseyan aboard - Trooper Norman William Moss, 'C' Squadron, who, sadly, was killed during the assault on the Hitler Line, Italy.)
Early next morning we were awakened to the throb of powerful engines, the Duchess of York was underway, after stopping briefly at the Bar Lightship to disembark the pilot it was out to the open waters of the Irish Sea. A few hours later most of the Regiment was on deck, as the ship sailed through the North Channel. On the port side could be seen the coast of Northern Ireland, home to so many and to the starboard, the hills of Kintyre.
Later, with the waters of the Atlantic under her keel, the Duchess of York took her place in a convoy that had assembled off the coast of Scotland, which began steaming its way to, as yet, an undisclosed destination.
Life on Board
After over two years of war, both the quantity and quality of food in Britain left much to be desired, so it was a delight to find that our ship had been re-victualed in Canada. Not only were the meals served reminiscent of those available pre-war, but also at the ship's canteens could be purchased such delights as bars of milk chocolate. When the ship sailed into stormy seas a few days later, how sorry were those of us who were not seasick to see so much good food go uneaten!
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